It has already been seen that Sir Henry swore fealty to King Edward, about 1292, as appears by the Ragman Roll. His father had been in the first place a supporter of Balliol, but Sir Henry was one of the patriot warriors who rallied round Bruce. He attested a charter by King Robert the Bruce at Dundee 21st October 1314. In Nisbet's "Memorial of the Sinclairs of Roslin" we are informed that Sir Henry made a very illustrious figure in the war occasioned by the competition for the crown betwixt the Bruce and the Balliol; and being a faithful adherent of the former, King Robert, in the eleventh year of his reign (1317), erected the moor of Pentland and several other lands into a free hunting, as they were in the reign of King Alexander, for the payment of a tenth part of a soldier. The same year he received from Edward de Gourton a parcel of Gourton tenanted by Roger de Harewood, a William de St.Clair being one of the witnesses; and on St.Magdalens Eve, 1328, in the presence of William de St.Clair, Dei Gratia, Episcop, Dunkeldiensis, apud Roselin, Gilbert de Gardano conveyed a further parcel of Gourton. [from Hay's Genealogie].
In 1320 Henry St.Clair is one of the signatories to the ever memorable letter of the Barons of Scotland to the Pope in assertion of the independence of Scotland. In this document, which was executed at Arbroath on the 6th April of that year, he is ranked as Panetarius Scotiae. This important office did not, however, remain long with the Roslins, for soon after John Comyn, Earl of Monteith, who was forfaulted in 1348, is designed Panetarius, after whom John and Thomas Murray, sons to Sir Andrew Murray, Governor of Scotland, are found in a charter designed Panetarii Scotiae. [From Nisbet's Heraldry].
The office was one of the Royal Household, and was in those days of great importance. The other offices were Steward of Scotland, Butler of Scotland, Great Constable, and Marshal. The Steward was, it seems, Mayor of the Palace, the Butler was cup-bearer to the King, and controlled the cellar, while the Panetarius occupied a similar position with regard to the supervision of other stores for the Royal household, an office of State best understood by reference to the Pharaohs, Kings of Egypt; he was governor of the kingdom's corn-trade. [from The Sinclairs of England]
The badge of office was a cup and a standish with pen and ink. In the letter to the Pope, after the eight Earls, the Steward and Butler follow, and five further down the Great Constable and Marischall, and then, with an interval of one, is Henry de St.Clair, Panetarius of Scotland, after whom are some sixteen other barons. The next year, 1321, Sir Henry was evidently up in Caithness, for in a document dated at Cullen, 4th August 1321, addressed by King Robert Bruce to the "ballivi" of the King of Norway in Orkney, he complains that Alexander Brun, "the King's enemy", convicted of lese majestatis; bad been received into Orkney, and had been refused to be given up, though instantly demanded by our "ballivus in Caithness, Henry St.Clair". Orkneyinga Saga
"Bain's Documents" has him indexed thus: Sir Henry de St.Clair, 16th May 1296, prisoner in England 17th April 1299, to be exchanged for Sir William FitzWarren; 16th July 1299, to be taken from Gloucester to York; his expenses, 3rd August 1299, and 12th September; sends the king passing by Pentland a falcon gentil (August 1303-4); Sheriff of Lanark (15th September, 1305); mainprise by him (and others) for the Bishop of St.Andrew's, 22nd June 1306; ordered to aid against Bruce (September, 1307); asked to obey the Earl of Richmond as warder; intercedes for Sir Patrick de Graham in prison (1308); receives wine (September 1309); discharged (autumn, 1309) of mainprise for Malise, Earl of Strathern; he and Alicia, his wife, forfeit a third of the barony of Rosselyn, 13th October 1335-6.
NOTE - Lady St.Clair is noted in the Dictionary of National Biography as Alicia de Fenton. John de Fenton, sheriff of Forfar, 1261, was father of Alicia and William (1292), married Cecilia Bisset, and had Isabella, married to Godfrey del Arde or his heir.
There is this notice of him in the Exchequer Rolls: [Volume 1, page 77, Preface] "Three pensions to members of the Saint Clair family appear first in the rolls immediately after King Robert's death. Sir Henry Saint Clair of Roslin, one of the heads of the national party, had a charter dated 27th December 1328, a pension of 20 marks granted to himself and his heirs till provided with lands to that value". He is said to have married a daughter of Ramsay of Dalhousie. [from Burke's Peerage]
The christian name of his wife was Alicia; she survived him, and as his widow her dower in Rosslyn, etc., was forfeited and given to Geoffrey Moubray, 10th September, 1336, [Bain's Documents] and it is noted that the baronies of Cousland, Rosselyn, and Pentland, belonging to John de St.Clair, are given in custody to Geoffry de Moubray, 28th January 1335-36. [from Hay's Genealogie]
Sir Henry had issue -