Murdoch MacLeod
Male 1290 - ?
Born, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Married to (Unknown) MacNicol. Father of Christina MacLeod and Torquil MacLeod. Son of Norman MacLeod and Finguala McCroton. Brother of Fynvola MacLeod and Malcolm MacLeod.
f the Nicolsons -- a variant of another such already cited. It is a significant juxtaposition, bearing in mind the tradition that the MacLeods succeeded the Nicolsons in Lewis as the result of a dynastic marriage. Which of the MacLeods could be a party to such a marriage? Not Leod or his son Norman, for in that case the name Torquil would be likely to occur, as it does not, among the MacLeods of Duvegan and Harris; and not Norman's grandson Torquil, because he must have been named, as already shown, after a Nicolson ancestor. Assuming that tradition has a basis in fact, it must have been Torquil's father Murdoch who became the husband of the Nicolson heiress. And this may be the appropriate point at which to discuss certain traditions relating to the marriage and its sequel.ll . . . did violentlie espouse, and cutte off Immediatlie the whole race of Macknaicle and possessed himself with the whole [of] Lews'. (It has, however, been indicated above that it cannot have been Torquil who was a party to the marriage.), 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'. (The present writer has 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.)ds (who are in possession of Dunvegan Castle!). The original substance of it (making obvious corrections) must have been somewhat as follows. A daughter of the Nicolson family marries a MacLeod. Her father embarks in his galley to visit his son-in-law in Harris. The latter sees him coming, and goes to meet him with a much larger galley, himself at the helm and his wife seated beside him. In a patch of fog, MacLeod suddenly finds himself in danger of running his father-in-law and company down, and makes to alter course. But his wife whispers that only that galley stands between their son and succession to all her father's lands. So he rams and sinks it, and allows all on board to drown. n chief, and that their son Torquil fell heir to Lewis, possibly after rivals of his mother's kin had been eliminated, by drowning or otherwise. Torquil it is with whom the genealogy of the MacLeods of Lewis properly begins; but for convenience we may go back to Leod, eponymous ancestor of the clan."
Sources
- Lysell, Mike.ged - provided by LifeTimes Research
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