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

8 THE MACLEODS OF DUNVEGAN
Thus amended, all the difficulties in the tradition dis-
appear, and certainly the arguments for believing that
the main facts contained in it are true are very strong.
The descent of Leod, on the assumption that he was
a son of Olaf the Black, will be found on page 22,
together with the descents given in the Kilbride and
MacFirbis MSS.
The Manuscripts
But traditions are not our only sources of information.
Skene discovered in the Advocates' Library at Edin-
burgh some MSS. which are known as the Kilbride MSS.
These, his editor says, were in such a state that chemicals
had to be employed to make them legible, which chemicals
later on entirely destroyed the originals. It must be
observed that these MSS. begin with the name of the
chief who was living when they v^^ere compiled, and work
backwards from him.
The oldest of them, dated 1467, does not contain the
MacLeod genealogy, but a second one, which Skene thinks
may be dated about 1540, does. There is, however, some
reason for the belief that its date was earlier than this.
Skene says there were six names before that of Leod, but
that these have been carefully erased. These were
probably the names of Leod's successors up to the time
when the MS. was written. As in 1540 Leod's seventh
successor was Chief, had it been compiled at that date
seven names would have been erased. As only six are
V so treated we may conclude that the pedigree was drawn
up in the time of William, Leod's sixth successor. He
succeeded in 1440, and was killed in 1480 at the Battle
of the Bloody Bay, so it seems likely that the true date of
the MS. is between 1440, when he succeeded, and 1480,
when he was killed. The fact that names were erased
seems to point to the MS. having been in the possession