[1] Note non-lenition of initial consonants in Torcaill and Tormoid. This is the usage, not only in the literary language, but also in vernacular oral tradition. The MacLeods of Lewis were traditinally designated Sìol Torcaill o ‘n chuan, perhaps because they were located on the far side of Cuan Sgìth (the Minch).

[2] A charter has been cited, purporting to be witnessed by MacLeod of Lewis and MacLeod of Harris (no names given) at Dingwall in 1245, but it is a palpable forgery. See Chisholm Batten, History of Beauly Priory, 31-32. Cf. Macfarlane’s Genealogical Collections II, 88. R.C. MacLeod (The MacLeods of Dunvegan, 20), characteristically accepts it as genuine, and alleges that the original is in the Clanranald charter chest. (He also supplies the names Tormod and Torquil!)

[3] “MS of 1467” (Skene, Celtic Scotland, III, 461-2); RIA MS 23 H 22, p. 48. In the former source Toircill has become Toircinn, an example of the frequent confusion of the lingual consonants; in the latter there is Toirchinn and Turcaill (twice). Cf. post, and notes 24 and 30.

[4] Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History II, 475, 478.

[5] Sir William Fraser, Earls of Cromartie II, 510-511.

[6] Sir Robert Gordon, Earldom of Sutherland, 267.

[7] Op. Cit., 374.

[8] Op. Cit., (1889), 283 ff.

[9] Sir R. Gordon, op. cit., 268.

[10] Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., loc. cit.

[11] Op. cit., loc. cit.

[12] Op. cit., loc. cit.

[13] See post, and note 87.

[14] Register of the Great Seal II, No. 2286.

[15] Op. Cit., 288.

[16] Beveridge, North Uist, 41 n.

[17] Watson, Scottish Verse from the Book of the Dean of Lismore, II, 969, 975-6, 980, 995.

[18] See post, and notes 47, 52 and 53.

[19] See ante, Vol. XLII. 158.

[20] Sir R. Gordon, op. cit., 63.

[21] Ibid., 62.

[22] The Earl of Cromartie calls him “Malcolm ni Bowan” (Sir W. Fraser. op. cit., 511), which looks the more likely form of the epithet. Could it be Gille-caluim (beag) nam Buadhan (Little Malcolm of the Accomplishments -- or Triumphs)?

[23] Rev. Sir James Fraser. op. cit., 87.

[24] RIA MS 23 H 22, p. 48. For a photocopy of this genealogy I am indebted to Mr. W. D. H. Sellar.

[25] Ante, pp. 68 ff. Here is further confirmation that Leods’ father was Olbhar.

[26] The existing MS is in a nineteenth century hand, but the fact that the genealogy begins with Roderick MacLeod, great-great-grandson of Leod, shows that the original must have been written about the first half of the fifteenth century.

[27] RIA MS, ut supra (see note 24).

[28] ante, and note 3.

[29] Macfarlane’s Geographical Collections II, 214.

[30] Another example (cf. note 3) of confusion between the lingual consonants, resulting in Gaelic Mac Neacail (MacNicol, Nicolson) beingmistaken for Mac Neachdain (MacNaughton).

[31] Anderson Smith, Lewisiana (2nd ed.), 193.

[32] So long ago that the identity of the informant has been forgotten.

[33] M. E. M. Donaldson, Wanderings in the the Western Highlands and Islands, 151.

[34] See ante, pp. 71, 77.

[35] The Book of Dunvegan (ed. R. C. MacLeod)I, 275; Robertson, Index of Charters, 48, 99, 100.

[36] For a transcript of the Bannatyne MS I am indebted to Mr. Alick Morrison. Confidence in the MS at this point is not enhanced by the fact that it knows nothing of Murdoch.

[37] The epithet Og was attached to a son because his name was the same as that of his father; but there could also be other reasons.

[38] “MS of 1467”; MacFirbis; Skene, op.cit., III, 481-2; Maclean Sinclair, Clan Gillean,, 44, 254.

39 Anderson Smith, op. cit., loc. cit. The battle may have been the one fought, as tradition avers, at Cnoc Mór Arnoil.

[39] Robertson, op. cit., loc. cit.

[40] See ante, and note 23.

[41] See ante, and note 21.

[42] See ante, and note 23.

[43] See post, note 53.

[44] Highland Papers I, 29 (Scottish History Society). According to MacVurich, it was his sons Torquil and Norman who took part in the battle Reliquiae Celticae II, 212).

[45] Notarial copy in the Reay papaers (Book of Mackay, 376). The charter was registered in the books of the Lords of Council, 15th February 1506, and the published transcript gives the date as 89th October 1400 (Clan Donald I, 512). But it seems more likely that the words quinto decimo should have been inadvertantly omitted rather than inadvertently inserted.

[46] Calendar of Papal Letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon 1394-1409 (ed. McGurk), 139 (Scottish History Society).

[47] Ibid., 103. The last-named is prsumably William MacLeod (wuilleam Cléireach) of Dunvegan.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Douglas, op. cit., loc. cit. (If this is the Roderick intended.)

[50] R. C. MacLeod, The MacLeods of Dunvegan, 67. (Same qualification as in previous note.)

[51] Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., II, 511.

[52] Sir R. Gordon, op. cit., 262; Macfarlane’s Genealogical Collections I, 169, 183. (In these sources we read that Roderick MacLeod was known as Ruaidhri Mór.)

[53] Calendar of Papal Letters ... 1394-1419, 103.

[54] See also ante, Vol. XXII. 60; R.C.MacLeod, op. cit., 62.

[55] See also ante, Vol. XXII. loc. cit.; R.C.MacLeod, op. cit., 65.

[56] MacLeod of Lewis Charter Chest? Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., loc. cit.

[57] Mackintosh Muniments (ed. Paton). No. 3.

[58] Hutton Collections (National Library), Vol. XI, pt. i, No. 12.

[59] Argyll Charters; R. W. Munro, Monro’s Western Isles, 107 n. Fraser-Mackintosh, Invernessiana, 109; Clan Donald I. 531, 535; Mackintosh Muniments, No. 2.

[60] See ante, and note 17.

[61] Morrison MSS (Stornoway Library), Vol. I; W. C. Mackenzie The Western Isles, 87 ff; Traditions of the Western Isles (National Society Daughters of Foundrs and Patriots of America) (1973), I ff; ante, vol. XLVI, 80 ff, 84.

[62] Morrison MSS, loc. cit.; Traditions of the Western Isles, loc. cit.; ante, Vol. XLVI. 82-84.

[63] Morrison MSS, loc. cit.,; Celtic Magazine II, 478; W.C.MacKenzie, op. cit., 89 n.

[64] Morrison MSS, loc. cit.,; Traditions of the Western Isles, 76 (where Aotrom read an t-Sròim).

[65] Clan MacLeod Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 15 (1950), 483; idem. No. 16 (1951), 32; ante, Vol. XLVII, 188. (He claimed that his great-great-grandfather John MacLeod was a brother of Roderick MacLeod, last of Lewis; impossible chronologically, nor is there any trace of such a brother.)

[66] Ante, Vol. XLVII, loc. cit.

[67] Ibid.

[68] Malcolm MacLeod (1724-1829) lived to a great age. He married Margaret MacLeod and had at least two sons: (1) Murdo (1781-1863), a blind Army pensioner, who married Janet Matheson, and left descendatns in Crowlista, parish of Uig; (2) Duncan (Donnchadh Bàn), who migrated to Carloway, where his descendants, including those of his son John (Iain bàn Beat), are numerous, (Gillanders of Highfield Papers; Uig Parish Registers; information from descendants.)

[69] Of these MacLeods were two brothers John and Malcolm in Borrowston, apparently on record as tenants there: John mc Ean vic Gillichalum (1763, 1766) and Malcolm mc Ean (1773, 1780, 1787, 1796). John had a son John (Iain Ruadh Mór), born in 1729, who became tacksman of Seaforth inthe Park district of Lochs in 1766. He married Christina, daughter of Donald Mackay (Domhnall Bàn), tenant in Linshader, and left many descendants, including the Lewis bard, Murdo MacLeod (Murchadh a’ Cheisteir). The other brother Malcolm had a son Malcolm (Calum Og), an Army veteran, whose son Norman (Tormod Saor) was the grandfather of the late Rev. Duncan MacLeod, D.D., Tarbert, Harris. (Gillanders of Highfield Papers; Stornoway Sheriff Court Records; State of the Conjoined Actions. . . Alexander Hume, Esq., of Harris, against the Right Honourable Francis, Lord Seaforth, 51; Genealogical Notes by the Rev. Duncan MacLeod; information from the late Rev. Murdo MacLeod, Barra.)

[70] Ante, Vol. XLVI. 84.

[71] Morrison MSS, Vol. VI; Traditions of the Western Isles, 159 ff; W. C. Mackenzie, op. cit., 147 ff; Forfeited Estates Papers (Seaforth); Gillanders of Highfield Papers; and other unpublished sources.

[72] Ane Breve Cronicle of the Earlis of Ross, 27, 41; MacGill, Old Ross-shire and Scotland I, No. 667. According to another account, she was a daughter of Roderick MacLeod (VII) (MacGill, op. cit., II, No. 1050). But this seems to be ruled out by chronological considerations. Cf. A. M. Ross, The Clan Ross, 24.

[73] MacLeod of Lewis Charter Chest? Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., loc. cit.

[74] See ante, and notes 14 and 16; Register of the Great Seal II, No 2286.

[75] Idem, Nos. 1419, 2221; R. W. Munro, op. cit., 143.

[76] Ante, Vol. XXIV, 380.

[77] Douglas, op. cit., loc. cit.; followed by later writers. But documentation seems to be lacking.

[78] Highland Papers I, 50; where the Sleat historian erroneously call the father Torquil. There is a reference to a poem about the son, preserved in Erray House, Tobermorey, two centuries ago (Maclagan MS No. 122).

[79] Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., II, 282. But it does not inspire confidence to find that here and in other histories of the MacKenzies Roderick’s marriage is confused with that of Roderick, last of Lewis, to Janet, daughter of John MacKenzie of Kintail. Alexander Mackenzie distinguishes between the two Rodericks and theirmarriages, but what his authority is for the name,or even the existence, of Agnes MacKenzie does not appear (Mackenzie, op. cit., 289, 298).

[80] See ante, and note 17.

[81] See post, and note 91; Steer and Bannerman, Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture in the West Highlands, 114.

[82] Warrand, Some MacKenzie Pedigrees, 86; Macfarlane’s Genealogical Collections I, 90.

[83] Tombstone at Eye; Steer and Bannerman, op. cit., 97.

[84] Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, 90 n.

[85] James’s son John (Iain Og) is called ogha Ruairidh ‘s iarogh’ Thorcaill (grandson of Roderick and great-grandson of Torquil) in a contemporary song (Carmina Gadelica V, 16).

[86] Register of the Great Seal II, No. 2424.

[87] Acts of the Parliament of Scotland II, 264.

[88] Gregory, History of the Western Highlands and Isles,102.

[89] Ante, Vol. XLVI, 82 ff.

[90] Register of the Great Seal II, No. 3578.

[91] Gregory, History of the Western Highlands and Isles, 102.

[92] Register of the Privy Seal II, Nos. 2514, 4371.

[93] See, however, Dr. S. Maclean’s reference to certain MacLeods in Raasay claiming descent from Torcall Dubh a chaidh a chrochadh (Black Torquil who was hanged) (ante, Vol. XLIX, 383). This Torquil was a son of Roderick MacLeod.