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

MALCOLM, THIRD CHIEF 47
was despatched with the sad tidings. He immediately
collected all the forces he could, and, landing in Trotter-
nish, was joined there by several others of his vassals.
" The Frasers in the meantime had laid waste Minginish
and Bracadale, carrying off the cattle and spoil of the
vanquished. A foster-brother of Malcolm, and the first
of the name who is mentioned, a William MacCaskill,
who had been left seneschal at Dunvegan, collected a
select body of men, amongst them his six younger brothers,
and resolved to recover the spoil of the MacLeods from
the Frasers, or perish in the attempt.
" They took up their position in a wood above Broad-
ford, on the direct road through which the Frasers had
to pass. The Frasers, completely off their guard, were
suddenly attacked, and their leader slain. This threw
them into inextricable confusion, the greater part of
them were slain, and the whole of the booty recovered
by MacCaskill, who was joined by the Chief as the fight
finished.
" Various accounts are given of the origin of the Clan
MacCaskill. Some say that the name is derived from the
prowess of this William, and that the etymology is cath,
a battle, and gille, a man ; or more properly a vassal."
This is, I think, a mistake. The name is almost cer-
tainly derived from the Norse Askill or Ansketill. Some
authorities think that the MacCaskills are descended
from Askill, King of Dublin, who in 1170 came to the
Isles of the West to collect men to serve in the ill-fated
attempt to recover his lost kingdom, which he made
in 1171.
It is possible that the William MacCaskill who was
seneschal of Dunvegan may be the same person as a
Gilbertus MacKaskill who lived about the same time.
If the name was contracted in an old document, Gulielmus
might easily be misread for Gilbertus, or vice versa.
This Gilbertus MacKaskill was seneschal of the Isle