George Sinclair (c. 1580–1612) was a Scottish

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

who fought and died in the

Kalmar War The Kalmar War (1611–1613) was fought between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark-Norway soon gained the upper hand, it was unable to defeat Sweden entirely. The Kalmar War was the last time Denmark-Norway successfully defended its '' ...

. He is remembered in popular song in Norway and the Faroe Islands, through the ballad ''Sinklars Visa''.

Biography

Scottish mercenaries in the Thirty Years War

George Sinclair was a nephew of

George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness George Sinclair (died 1643) was a Scottish nobleman, the 5th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair, a Scottish clan based in northern Scotland. Early life George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness was the eldest son of John Sinclair, Ma ...

. He was educated at

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves around 1,400 pupils drawn from four feeder pr ...

and in 1595 participated in a mutiny which ended after the city officers stormed the school; according to a Norwegian source Sinclair shot a bailie with a pistol.

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

, the brother-in-law of

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

, forbade Scottish mercenaries from joining the Swedes in the

(1611-1613). But Sinclair and his men, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Ramsay, went to

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs from the Romsdalsfjorden through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and into Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma (river), Rau ...

in Norway anyway. They landed at Klungnes on the shore of the

Romsdalsfjord or is the ninth-longest fjord in Norway. The long fjord is located in the Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county. It flows through the municipalities of Molde, Haram, Vestnes, and Rauma. The deepest point in the fjord is just southwest ...

on 19 or 20 August 1612, in two ships and with around 300 men. A week after they landed they were engaged by a Norwegian militia of farmers, with only a few Scotsmen escaping with their lives, in what became known as the

Battle of Kringen Battle of Kringen () involved an ambush by Norwegian peasant militia of Scottish mercenary soldiers who were on their way to enlist in the Swedish army for the Kalmar War. The battle has since become a part of folklore in Norway, giving names t ...

. Sinclair was shot by Berdon Segelstad, a Norwegian militiaman, with a silver button. He was buried in

Kvam Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger settl ...

, at the old church, and a memorial stone put over his grave remains there still.

Legacy

Sinclair's story, as ''Sinklars Visa'', is memorialized in folk songs in Norway and in one of the

Kvæði Kvæði are the old ballads of the Faroe Islands, accompanied by the Faroese chain dance. They typically recite stories and can have hundreds of stanzas plus a refrain, chorus sung between every verse. History It is generally thought that Fa ...

, the ballads of Faroese folk culture. Faroese folk metal band

Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...

adapted ''Sinklars Visa'' for a modern metal audience; the song is an audience favorite. Sinclair is also remembered in the poem "The Ballad of George Sinclair" translated into English from the original Danish/Norwegian and written by

Edvard Storm Edvard Storm (21 August 1749 – 29 September 1794) was a Norwegian poet, songwriter and educator. His writings were frequently characterized by the Norwegian romantic nationalism common to the age. Background Storm was from Vågå in Oppland, No ...

, in 1781. Childe Sinclair and his menyie steered
Across the salt sea waves;
But at Kringellens' mountain gorge
They filled untimely graves. They crossed the stormy waves so blue,
for Swedish gold to fight;
May burning curses on them fall
That strike not for the right! The horned moon is gleaming red,
The waves are rolling deep;
A mermaid trolled her demon lay -
Childe Sinclair woke from sleep. Turn round, turn round thou Scottish youth,
Or loud thy sire shall mourn;
For if thou touchest Norway's strand,
Thou never shall return.

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

wrote a historical tragedy of the incident, ''Sinklars Død'' (Death of Sinclair), in about 1840. Wergeland also refers to the battle in his poem "Norges Fjelde" ("mountains of Norway"), where he calls the lumber barricade used in the ambush a "barricade of freedom". Wergeland's tragedy, in turn, was one of the inspirations for

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's first play, ''

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to seize control of the Roman state in 63 BC. ...

''. Victorian antiquarians, in the late 19th century, named the " Sinclair Hilt" for George Sinclair, using it to denote Scandinavian swords that "bear a certain resemblance" to swords used in the Scottish Highlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. Captured Scottish weapons, including a pistol, a lochabar axe and several

basket hilt claymore The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. This varie ...

s, were put on display at the

Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward the Romsdalen vall ...

Museum,

, to commemorate the battle.Niven Sinclair, The Battle of Kringen, 1612
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References

External links

Herr Sinklar sung by people from the island of Nólsoy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, George 16th-century births Year of birth uncertain 1612 deaths People from Caithness Scottish mercenaries Expatriates from the Kingdom of Scotland Expatriates in Sweden Scottish soldiers People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Scottish pre-union military personnel killed in action 17th-century Scottish people 17th-century soldiers George Sinclair Deaths by firearm in Norway