St Clair sur Epte

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

If you will be good enough to let me have your address, I will send you
the relevant information on St Clair sur Epte.

It would appear to be quite simple: Forest - Hermit - Hut - Death 884 -
Chapel - Church - Village - Town - Rollo - Treaty of
St Clair-sur-Epte 912 some 28 years after the death of
Clair (which is the spelling which is used on the three
feet high altar
in the shrine to the hermit).

The only name which could have existed before the death of the hermit
would have been the name of the forest itself.

Another account of Clair states that he was born in Scotland (where
else?) and wrote the "Ritual of Divine Duty" and
lived                
about 600 A.D

In the Dictionary of Christian Biography, Vol I (London 1877) there are
notices of nine saints named Clarus.  The account
there states that the Clarus, after whom St Clair-sur-Epte was named, was
a personage of the ixth century and hailed from
Rochester in Kent.  This is the generally accepted version.  It
is of little consequence because there is no suggestion that
the Sinclairs had any blood connection with any of the Saints.  When
surnames came into vogue people simply adopted the 
name of the area in which they lived or, in other cases, the name of
their trade or profession.

There is another interesting territorial connection because the Sinclairs
became the Governors of Rochester, Dover and Colchester castles after the
Conquest - protecting the gateways to London just as they protected the
gateway to Edinburgh (Rosslyn and Hermandston Castles) and the gateway to
Tunsberg (the then Royal Palace of Norway) by being Governors of Bergen
Castle.
The Sinclairs had a strategy which transcended national boundaries. 
They were, according to a Professor at Moscow State
University, one of the two most important families in Europe.

Thankfully, there is evidence of a resurgence of interest in our lineage
and in our heritage which can only augur well for the future.

We are nothing without our roots.  It is knowing our roots which
gives us stability; which allows us to realise and then release the
true potential which lies within each one of us and, with that knowledge,
to forge a better future for all Mankind.  "We are too
few"
I hear people say.    Well it has always been the few who
have changed history.  Our forefathers did.  We may not be able
to do so
on the same scale but I'm reminded that "If every man could
mend a man, the whole World would soon be mended" which
brings us back to St Clair who was a great healer.

Niven Sinclair

P.S.

Rollo (as the French know him) or Hrolf 'the Ganger' (which was the
epithet by which he was generally known)  which means
Hrolf 'the Walker' because he was so big that no horse could carry
him!!

If surnames had not come into vogue I wonder what nick-names we would
have?  Bill 'the Prophet''?  Louisa 'the Torment'?
- perhaps I'd better stop there before people begin identifying
themselves with my suggestions. I'd prefer to be known as Niven
'the Mediator' rather than Niven 'the trouble maker'  (Actually
Niven means "little saint" in Gaelic so I am a "little
saint St Clair"
which may have been what my parents were hoping for but which, alas, they
didn't get).

[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@jump.net.
[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html