Matheson Collection > Macleods of Dunvegan from the time of Leod to the end of the seventeenth century

THE DESCENT OF LEOD 5
nect Leod with the royal house of Man and the Isles.
The other, the first-named, does not contradict this if
we understand a ' son of the King of Denmark ' as mean-
ing a ' descendant of the King of Denmark,' for the
Kings of Man traced their descent back to Sigurd Ring,
King of Denmark in the eighth century.
There is one very strong reason for believing that Leod
was really descended from the Kings of Man, and that
is the fact that the MacLeods bore the same insignia in
their arms as the Kings of Man had borne before them.
The seals on two charters granted by Harold, King of
Man, in 1245 and 1246, have on one side the lymphad or
galley, on the other a lion. In later days the MacLeods
bore the lymphad, and the lion appeared in their arms
as supporters (see Appendix).
I am aware that the galley was borne by Norse poten-
tates in the Orkneys and Caithness, and it might be said
that, if MacLeod's ancestor was not Olaf the Black, but
Olver, whose story I shall relate later on, they might have
got their galley, not from the Norwegians in Man, but
from those in the Orkneys ; but I think there is a com-
plete answer to this. The date of Olver was 1139. At
that time, even in England and Normandy, the science
of heraldry was unknown. Boutell says, ' Until the
concluding quarter of the twelfth century the traces of
heraldry in England are faint and few in number. It
was in the reign of Henry iii. (1216-1272) that heraldry
began to be regarded as a science.' If, then, the
MacLeods bore Norse insignia in their arms, as they
certainly did, they must have derived them from the
Norwegians in Man and the Isles, and if Leod was not
descended from them, I know of no connection between
the MacLeods and the royal line of kings in Man which
would entitle them to bear their arms.
But there is one discrepancy in the traditions which
must be considered. Sir George MacKenzie says that