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Murdoch MacLeod (1266 - 1340)

Murdoch "Murchadh" MacLeod
Born in Dunvegan Castle, Skye, Scotlandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Brother of
Husband of — married about 1295 in Isle of Lewis, Hebrides, Scotlandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 74 in Lewis, Hebrides, Scotlandmap
Problems/Questions
Profile last modified | Created 20 May 2011
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Contents

Biography

Murdoch MacLeod is a member of Clan MacLeod.

He is identified in Matheson's[1] work as the second son to Tormoid (Norman) MacLeod and grandson to Leod. Bain suggests that Torquil was the 2nd of Lewis[2] thus Murdoch would be the 1st MacLeod of Lewis.

Lands of the MacLeods

The original grant of the Lands of the MacLeods is subject to some controversy, with most modern historians no longer believing that they were related to the King of Mann and the Isles. They certainly appear to have been part of the Norwegian nobility that held lands prior to 1265 and to the King of Norway. It seems probable, with what we known of the ancestry, that the family of Leod, held Harris and Lewis (once combined) and his wife the heir to the lands of Skye. After the ceding of the lands by Norway, in 1265 at the Treaty of Perth, the northern isles were, in the main, held as part of the Earldom of Ross.

John Morison of Bragar, in his Description of the Lewis, writes of “Macknaicle whose onlie daughter Torquill . . . did violentlie espouse, and cutte off Immediatlie the whole race of Macknaicle and possessed himself with the whole [of] Lews”. William Matheson relates that the Lewis shennachie (storyteller) of a century ago, who stated that “the year after Torquil became chief of the Lews, he and the MacNaughtons (recte MacNicols) were proceeding in their birlins, or large boats, to Stornoway, when MacLeod ran the boat of MacNaughton (recte MacNicol) down in the Sound of Jaunt [Shiant], and allowed the whole crew to drown”. (Matheson noted that he had heard a tradition on the same subject, with the Sound of Shiant called Sruth nam Fear Gorm. But the drowning was represented as the means whereby the MacLeods acquired Lewis; and that makes better sense than to have it happen after they had done so). Matheson provides evidence to suggest that the name Torquil was not a name used prior to marriage with the MacNicol family of Lewis in which it was in use. Thus he stated that it must have been Murdoch that married the MacNicol and this is what we use here.

If these legends are true, even remotely, then he "acquired" the lands of Lewis shortly after his marriage and about 1305.

Family and Legacy

He is known to have had two children:

  • Christina MacLeod, who will marry Hector Maclean Eachann Reaganach), first of Lochbuie.


Footnotes

  1. MacLeod family historian, William Matheson
  2. #S-1 Robert Bain; page 69


Source

  • MacLeod family historian, William Matheson, provides critical research in the family of MacLeod, particularly of Lewis.
  • Source S-1Robert Bain. History of the ancient province of Ross (The County Palatine of Scotland) from the earliest times to the present time. Vol. I. Dingwall: Pefferside Press, 1899. Open Library

Acknowledgements

This person was created through the import of McQuery Family Tree.ged on 20 May 2011.





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M  >  MacLeod  >  Murdoch MacLeod

Categories: Clan MacLeod