George Sinclair

George Sinclair (c. 1580–1612) was a Scottish mercenary who fought and died in the Kalmar War. He is remembered in popular song in Norway and the Faroe Islands, through the ballad Sinklars Visa. Biography George Sinclair was a nephew of George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness. He was educated at Edinburgh High School 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, the brother-in-law of Christian IV of Denmark, forbade Scottish mercenaries from joining the Swedes in the Kalmar War (1611-1613), but Sinclair and his men, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Ramsay went to Rumsdalen in Norway anyway, where they landed on 19 or 20 August 1612, in two ships and with around 300 men. Soon 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.< Sinclair was shot by Berdon Segelstad, a Norwegian militiaman, with a silver button. He was buried in Kvam, at the old church, and a memorial stone put over his grave remains there still.