areas originally settled by their Viking
ancestors. Owen Doyle appears as a gentleman of Arklow, County Wicklow about 1600.
The MacLeods (Mac Leoid)
The Siol Tormod and Siol Torquil are the two great independent branches of
the Clan MacLeod (Mac Leoid). The MacLeods descend from Olaf the Black, King of Man and
the North Isles in the thirteenth century. King Olaf was of the Norse House of Godred
Crovan, King of Man, Dublin and all the Hebrides, who fought for King Harald Haardrade of
Norway in his abortive attempt to conquer England in 1066. The MacLeods originally
quartered the Black Galley in their arms, which was the symbol of the old Norse Kings of
Man. In the seventeenth century they adopted instead a quartering of the "Three Legs
of Man." Their eponymous ancestor was Leod, son of Olaf the Black. His two sons were
the founders of the SioI Tormod and Siol Torquil branches of the clan, the former of which
is generally considered the senior of the two (this has been disputed by the Torquil
branch).
The Siol Tormod held the peninsula of Harris
in the Outer Hebrides, the district around Glenelg on the mainland, and the large district
around Dunvegan in western Skye. Dunvegan Castle is still the seat of the chief of all the
MacLeods, as it has been for over 700 years. The Siot Torquil held the Island of Lewis,
part of Skye, and also the mainland district between Loch Ewe and Loch Torridon until they
were overthrown by the MacKenzies early in the seventeenth century. A younger branch, the
MacCallums or Malcolmsons (Mac Giolla Chaluim), or MacLeods of Raasay, held the Island of
Raasay until the mid-nineteenth century (their chief’s designation was
"Mac-GilIe-Chaluim"). The Clan Malcolm, the MacCallums or Malcolms of Poltalloch
in Argyle, are a branch of the Raasay clan. They were taken in under the protection of the
Campbells of Lochow, for whom they appear as hereditary constables of the castles of
Craignish and Lochaffy as early as 1414. The MacCabes (Mac Caba) are a branch of the
MacLeods from the Hebrides who settled in Breffny (Cavan and West Leitrim), Ireland, as
captains of gallowglasses (heavily-armed soldiers) to the O’Rourkes and
O’Reillys beginning the mid-fourteenth century.
The Morrisons, or Clann Mac Giolla Mhoire,
descend from Gillemoire, illegitimate brother of Leod, thirteenth century ancestor of the
MacLeods. Their territory lay in the extreme north of Lewis, the Morrrisons being
hereditary brieves, or brehon judges, for the whole island. In the mid-fourteenth century
their chiefly line passed through an heiress, who married a MacIan MacDonald of
Ardnamurchan. The haughty heiress persuaded her MacDonald husband to change his name to
Morrison, and he afterwards became "one of the best brieves of Lewis." They had
a falling out with their kinsmen, the Siol Torquil, about the year 1600, which led
directly to the MacKenzie takeover of Lewis. |
