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

//^
10 THE MACLEODS OF DUNVEGAN
which is printed an old genealogy of the MacNichols or
Nicholsons. The heiress of this family married Torcill
MacLeod, who later obtained a Crown charter of the
lands his wife brought him. In this genealogy the name
of ' Torcill ' follows that of the last of the MacNichols
without any indication that he was, not the son, but
the son-in-law of the last MacNichol.
3. They invariably give the Gaelic equivalents for
Norse names — lamhar for Ivar, Arailt for Harold, Leod
for Ljot, Oloir for Olaf.
4. Without giving any hint of what they are doing
they interpolate, between the names of a father and a
son, the names of kings or any other famous men
from whom the latter may be descended through his
mother.
That this was the habit of the genealogists is, I think,
proved by considering the number of names, and the
length of time which elapsed between two persons the
dates of whose birth are known. Thus between Ivar
the Boneless and Leod about three hundred and seventy
years elapsed, or about twelve generations. Between
these two persons there are twenty-two names in the
Kilbride MS., and eighteen in the MacFirbis, Between
Leod and Alasdrann about four hundred and twenty
years elapsed, or fourteen generations ; in the MacFirbis
MS. twenty-two names are mentioned.
I now give the Kilbride genealogy in full.
GENEALACH MIC LEOD AN SO
{From Skene's Kilbride MS., probably 1440-1480)
Mic Leod.
1. Mic Oloir.
2. Mic Oib.
3. Mic Oilmoir.
4. Mic lamhar Og. Young Ivar.