Lady Grissell Stewart

GRIZEL STEWART (aka GRISSELL STEWART or GRESILIDA STEWART)

Grizel Stewart (aka Grissell Stewart or Gresilida Stewart) is the daughter of Robert Stewart, feuar of the crown lands of Orkney and Shetland, afterwards Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney and Lord of Shetland. Records of the Earldom of Orkney, charter number CLVI on p. 271 She was one of Earl Robert Stewart's illigetimate daughters. The name of her mother is not known.The County Families of the Shetland Islands: Sinclair of Brugh

Death

Grizel Stewart died before 21 April 1591, the date upon which her widowed husband, Hugh Sinclair of Brugh, had a charter from her father, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney and Lord of Shetland, "to the airis lawfully gotten betwixt him and unquhill Grissell Stewart, our dochter naturall, ilk ane eftir utheris successivlie without any divisioune of landis" of the lands of Howsbie and the Isle of Auskerry in Orkney. The County Families of the Shetland Islands Earl Robert's charter in favour of Hugh Sinclair of Brugh was confirmed under the Great Seal of Scotland on 27 December 1591. The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, charter number 1994 on p. 676

Possible First Marriage

Grizel Stewart may have married Adam Mudie of Breckness as her first husband. This cannot presently be regarded as being certain but the possibility of a marriage is suggested by a charter issued by her father on 20 January 1563-64. The charter is made in favour of Master William Mudy of Breckness and his son Adam, and Adam’s apparent or prospective spouse Grizel Stewart: “Willielmum Mudy de Brecknes…..et Adame Mudye eius filio legitimus…..et Gresilida Stewart eius sponsa apparen”. The original charter is written in Latin and is part of the Skaill House collection in Orkney [SH B1/0/2] but an English translation was printed in the Records of the Earldom of Orkney, charter number CLVI on p. 271

Marriage

Grizel Stewart (aka Grissell Stewart) married Hugh Sinclair of Strome, afterwards Hugh Sinclair of Brugh According to Sir James Balfour Paul they were married before 27 December 1591 The Scots Peerage, although, more recently, it has been suggested that they may have married in about 1577. [Peter D. Anderson, Robert Stewart Earl of Orkney Lord of Shetland 1533-1593 (John Donald, Edinburgh, 1982), page 166, where Anderson cites a tack dated 10 July 1577, which was made in favour of Grizel Stewart and Hugh Sinclair of Strome, her prospective spouse.]

Children

1. Robert Sinclair of Brugh
2. Laurence Sinclair of Brugh
3. Alexander Sinclair
4. Henry Sinclair
5. Margaret Sinclair

Published Evidence

1. J. Storer Clouston, Records of the Earldom of Orkney, 1294-1614 (Scottish History Society, Edinburgh, 1914)) https://archive.org/stream/publicationsofsc27scot#page/n8/mode/1up
2. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum: The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1580-1593, edited by John Maitland Thomson, M.A., Advocate (Scotland's National Archives, Reprinted and Presented by the Scottish Record Society in Conjunction with Clark Constable, Edinburgh, 1984) https://archive.org/stream/registrummagnisi05scot#page/n6/mode/1up

Biographical and Genealogical Accounts

1. The County Families of the Shetland Islands
2. The Scots Peerage
3. Peter D. Anderson, Robert Stewart Earl of Orkney Lord of Shetland 1533-1593 (John Donald, Edinburgh, 1982)