Well Cindy, For starts we have the story of Queen
Emma who was twice queen of England. It was in the recent Yours Aye
publication. She was the sister of our ancestor Malgar/Mauger Ct. Of
Mortain & Corbeil. Charts showing the relationship are at www.clansinclairusa.org History
Link and choose "Norman Years" link.
I also believe that Prince Henry's mother
should get a lot more credit. She probably was responsible for teaching
him Danish and Norwegien and telling him the tales of the Viking raiders and
explorers. She must have helped groom him for the Earlship and of course
became widowed with younger children to take care and of when husband, William
went off to his death in Lithuania.
I very much credit Frederick Pohl for making Prince
Henry's wife come alive in his book Prince Henry Sinclair-His
expedition to the New World in 1398 Frederick gives us
more insight into the courting customs of that day than anyone I have
read. Of course Henry's wife was not a Sinclair but we inherited
equally from both of them what we are today.
I think if we dug a bit that Eleanor
of Aquitaine was descended from old Rollo because one of his daughters married
into that family and thus a distant cousin to our St. Clairs in
Normandy. Read Eleanor of Aquitaine and the 4
kings. She married the king of France, went on the 2nd
Crusade during which time she took up with a distant relative of hers in
Palestine. King Louis II had to abduct her and take her forcibly on
to Jerusalem. By the time they got back to France, he had had enough of
her and divorced her, keeping their 2 children. Very soon she married
Henry of Orange who became King Henry II of England. Their two sons
Richard the Lionheart and John made up the other 2 kings in the
title. But she did much to keep the kingdom together when the men
were at each others throats. Imagine, in her 80's she rode down to
Castille, picked up a young granddaughter and brought her back to France to
marry King Louis III eventually. By the way her daughter Joanna was queen
of Sicily and daughter Eleanor queen of Castille. Joanna went on the
3rd crusade with brother Richard. You will really find that mother
Eleanor was a woman of her own mind and that is why her husband locked her up in
a monastery for years. From this wierd family we got the movie "The Lion
in Winter". Eleanor was played by Katherine Hepburn
You may be really looking for more modern stories but at least
these indicate that we Sinclair (without the name) women had potential
also. John Knox's mother was a Sinclair. Surely she is
someone to learn about also. Maybe she was like John Wesley's
mother. People write much more about her than her
husband.
Laurel
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