!BIOGRAPHY: Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, Baronet, THE BARONAGE
OF SCOTLAND, Edinburgh, 1798, pp. 376, 377.
XII. Alexander Macleod of that ilk, and Herries, well known by the
appellation of Crottach or Humpback.
He got a charter under the great seal from king James IV, Dilecto et
fideli nostro Alexandro Macleod, filio ad haeredi quondam Willielmi,
Johannis Macleod soun de Dunvegan, terrarum de Ardmannach in herage de
Lewes, et cum omnibus minutis insulis ad dictum Ardmannach pertinen,
terrarum de Dunynys, terrarum de Megynis, terrarum de Brakadale, terrae
de Lindall, terrarum de Trotterness, cum officio balivatus totarum et
integrarum praedict, terrarum de Trotterness in Skye, que fuerunt qound,
Willielmi Macleod haereditarie, &c. &c. &c. Which lands held of the Earls
of Ross and lords of the isles before their forfeiture, but afterwards of
the crownward, for holding in readiness one ship of 26 oars, and two of
16 for the king''s service, when required, reserving also to the king, and
his successors, the airies of nests of falcons within the said bounds, &c.
The charter is dated 15th of June 1498.
He afterwards got a charter from king James V. Alexandro Macleod de
Dunvegan, terrarum baroniae de Glenelg, cum molendinis, &c. &c. in
Inverness-shire, dated 13th of February 1539.
He married a daughter of Alan Cameron of Lochyell, by whom he had
three sons and two daughters.
1. William.
2. Donald.
3. Tormod.
All of them were successively barons of Macleod.
1st daughter, ______, was married, 1st, to James Macdonald, second
son of Donald fourth baron of Slate, and by him was mother to John Oge,
progenitor of the Macdonalds of Kingsburrow: She married, 2dly, Alan
Maclain, captain of the clan Ranald, to whom she had a son, Alan Oge, &c.
her husband''s bad usage of her was the cause of the feuds that long
subsisted between the Macleods and the clan Ranalds, &c. She married,
3dly, ______ Macdonald of Keppoch, to whom she also had issue.
His 2d daughter, ____, was married to Hector Maclean of Lochbuy, and
had issue.
This Alexander repaired the monastery of Bowadale in Herries, died in
an advanced age, in the reign of queen Mary, was buried in the church of
that monastery; and, in the arms upon his tomb, which are still to be
seen, is a lymphad or galley, the ancient armorial bearing of his
predecessors.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Macleod.
!BIOGRAPHY: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon, MACLEOD CHIEFS OF HARRIS AND
DUNVEGAN, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1969, pp. 14-15. Alick
Morrison, THE CHIEFS OF CLAN MACLEOD, East Kilbride, Scotland, 1986.
He was known as ALASDAIR CROTACH (Alexander the Humpbacked). On
one occasion, during his father''s absence in Harris, Alexander was called
upon suddenly to lead the clan against a body of Clanranald MacDonalds
who had landed in Skye to lay waste the MacLeod country. In the course
of the fighting, a son of Clanranald by a stroke of his battleaxe wounded
young Alexander in the back. The latter, however, gripped his assailant,
drew him to the ground, and killed him with his dirk. He cut off young
Clanranald''s head, which he carried away as a ''trophy of his prowess''.
The author of the BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT says that Alexander never
recovered from his wound. The muscles of his back were severed, and
he ''stooped ever after, from which he got the appellation of Crotach or
humpbacked''. In spite of this physical disability, Alasdair Crotach was a
man of great strength, force and activity in peace and war. He built one
of the towers of Dunvegan Castle, and repaired the old Cathedral of St.
Clement at Rodel in Harris, in which he erected a magnificent tomb for
himself. When he was no longer young, he married the youngest daughter
of Allan Cameron, 12th of Lochiel, with issue....
Alasdair Crotach died in 1547, and was buried in the tomb, which he
had prepared for himself in the Cathedral of Rodel, being the first
MacLeod Chief interred outside Iona. He was succeeded in the chiefship
by his eldest son.