1364 Thomas de St.Clair, Ballivus
1369 Hakon Jonsson Prefect
1375 Alexander de la Ard Governor and Commissioner
SYNCHRONISMS:
NORWAY: 1343 Hakon VI
SWEDEN: 1350 Eric IV; 1359 Magnus II restored
DENMARK: 1340 Waldemar III; 1376 Olaf IV
SCOTLAND: 1330 David II; 1371 Robert II
ROME: 1352 Innocent VI; 1362 Urban; 1370 Gregory XI
PRELATES:
ORKNEY: 1328 William IV - [See Historiettes]
CAITHNESS: 1342 Thomas; 1369 Malcolm - [See Historiettes]
During this period while the succession to the earldom was disputed by the several heirs and representatives of Malise the Second, the historical notices are few, and the matter preserved at best but fragmentary.
The Archdeacon of Shetland - one William Johnsson - appears in a Norse deed dated at Sandwick 4th March 1360. He is supposed by Munch to be the tenth Bishop of Orkney, William V, who is otherwise only referred to in a record of the time of Robert III of Scotland.
In 1363 HENRY SAINT-CLAIR, Lord of Roslin, was sent as ambassador to Copenhagen, where a marriage was in course of celebration between Hakon VI, King of Norway, and Margaret, the future "Semiramis of the North" daughter of Waldemar III of Denmark. As Henry St.Clair was at that time sick, his procurators got from those princes a confirmation of the lands of Orkney, and it is stated that at the same time a marriage was concluded between himself and King Hakon's sister, a daughter of Magnus II of Sweden. [From Hay's Genealogie or The History of the Saint-Clairs]
The following year, on the 20th January 1364, we find a THOMAS DE ST.CLAIR installed at Kirkwall as "ballivus" of the Norwegian king; an ALEXANDER ST.CLAIR, and Euphemia de Stratherne styling herself one of the heirs of the late Malise, Earl of Stratherne. These three attest a deed executed at Kirkwall on the date aforesaid, by which Bernard de Rowle resigns to Hugh de Ross (brother of William, Earl of Ross) the whole lands of Pouleroule in Aberdeenshire, the witnesses being John de Gamery and Simon de Othyrles, canons of Caithness; Euphemia de Stratherne, one of the heirs of the late Malise, Earl of Caithness; Thomas de St.Clair, "ballivus regis Norvagiae", and Alexander de St.Clair. Alexander de Sancto Claro, son of the quondam [the deceased] Thomas de St.Clair, received in the 41st David II, (i.e. 1371), confirmation of a charter from Hugh Ross of Philorth of the lands of Estirtyry, Aberdeen; and of another from William, Earl of Ross, of the lands of Bray with pertinents in the maresium de ffornewyr, in vic. de Inverness.
Euphemia de Stratherne, if not the daughter of Earl Malise, mentioned in the Diploma as having died unmarried, must surely be Euphemia, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross, and wife of Robert Stuart, created Earl of Stratherne about 1346-53. Earl Malise had espoused her sister Marjory, and she was sister to the Hugh de Ross and William, Earl of Ross, mentioned in the deed. To William, Earl of Ross was entrusted the marriage of the Lady Isabella, daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne, Caithness, and Orkney, as is shown by a document dated at Inverness 28th May 1344, granting her also the Earldom of Caithness failing heirs-male of himself and his wife Marjorie. Euphemia de Stratherne became Queen of Scotland on the accession of Robert Stuart in 1370, and was crowned with great solemnity at Scone, being anointed by the Bishop of Aberdeen. [Balfour's Annals]. Thomas de St.Clair, "ballivus," was most probably acting in that capacity for his kinsman [nephew] durante absentia at the Danish court.
About 1367 (Skene has in 1357) one Duncan Anderson, who appears to have been Scottish, and probably agent for ALEXANDER DE ARD, issues a manifesto to the Islesmen, notifying them that he has under his guardianship the true and legitimate heir of Earl Malise, the former Earl of Orkney; that this heir has now the full and undeniable right to the earldom; and that as he has heard that the King of Norway has recently sequestrated the revenues of the earldom, he warns the inhabitants not to allow those revenues to be taken Furth of the land, till the true heir be presented to them which will be ere very long, if the Lord will. It would seem that a representation must have been made by the Court of Norway to the Scottish King regarding the troubling of the Islands by the claimants or their friends in Scotland, for an edict was issued from Scone in 1367 by King David, forbidding any of his subjects, of whatever rank or condition, to pass into Orkney or frequent its harbours on any other errand than that of lawful commerce.
William IV, the ninth bishop, occupied the Orcadian see at that period. We find an agreement entered into at Kirkinvaghe (Kirkwall) dated the 25th May 1369, between him and Hakon Jonsson, negotiated by twenty-three clergy and laymen of the Islands, respecting what the bishop ought to pay Hakon on the king's account: mutual frieudship to be for the future, and men born in the Islands to be appointed to offices there henceforth. The other persons appearing in the record are " sir William of Buchan, erkindiakin of Orkney; sir Walter of Buchan, kanugkr of samastadh; sir John proktur; sir Richard of Rollisey; sir Cristen of Teyn; sir Cristen of Sanday; sir William wod. Thomas arland; Fergus of Ross; Henri Williams; John of Orkney; William Stormr; John of Boduel; John Robertson; Adam of Mekre; Gudbrand Andersson; Sighurdr of Pappley; John Sinclair; Patrick kaldar; Duncan of Karmkors; Bube Skinner; William ernin; John of Dounreay " Of thirteen seals Numbers 4, 8, 10 and 11 remain on the parchment original. The title "sir" is equivalent to the modern word reverend.
About the year 1374 four Orcadian fishing boats were tossed in a gale towards land far out in the West, since ascertained to be in North America. The survivor returned twenty-six years later, and related his experiences to the 42nd Earl, Henry I [Voyages of the Zeni]
In 1375 King Hakon VI of Norway granted the Earldom of Orkney, for a single year till next St.John's Day, to ALEXANDER DE ARD, naming him in the document, however, not as Earl, but simply as GOVERNOR and COMMISSIONER for the King, and declaring in the document addressed to the Islesmen that this grant is given provisionally until the said Alexander shall establish his claim to the earldom He seems not to have been regarded with much favour by the King, for the grant was not renewed. Alexander de Ard had succeeded to the Earldom of Caithness in right of his mother as heir to Earl Malise. In 1375 he resigned the Castle of Brathwell (Brawl) and all the lands in Caithness, or any part of Scotland, which he had inherited in right of his mother, Matilda de Stratherne, to King Robert II, who bestowed them on his own son David, who appears in 1377-1378 as Earl Palatine of Caithness and Stratherne.
The abeyancy of the earldom was terminated in 1379 in favour of HENRY SAINT-CLAIR, Lord of Roslin, eldest son of Isabella de Stratherne,