!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon, MACLEOD CHIEFS OF HARRIS AND
DUNVEGAN, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1969, p. 1.
!SOURCE: Alick Morrison, THE CHIEFS OF CLAN MACLEOD, East Kilbride,
Scotland, Associate Clan MacLeod Societies,1986, p. 13.
The TALISKER MANUSCRIPT reads, ''Magnus, last king of Man, was the
brother of Leoid (progenitor of the MacLeods) by Olaf''s first marriage
and it is hoped that the following series of Lairds of MacLeod from Olaf
downwards, will answer pretty nearly to the calculations by which the
chronologie is judg''d of, which is taken from a list of them written from
Sir Norman MacLeod of Berneray''s account of the family, a man of very
extensive knowledge and very versant in the Genealogies of the most
notable families in Scotland and from old Daans or Poems''. The bardess,
Mairi Nighean Alisdair Ruaidh speaks in the same strain. The MacLeods
are descended from ''mighty Vikings'' from the ''town of Bergen, which is
the beginning of their history''. They are of the race of Ollaghair (i..e.,
Olaf Odhar or Olaf the the Black or Swarthy) son of Ochraidh (i.e.,
Godfrey). With this viewpoint the BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT, written by a
descendant of Sir Norman MacLeod, is in full agreement. The traditional
Norse origin of the Clan is bluntly expressed in the MEMORIAL
MANUSCRIPT (dated ca. 1767) for Norman, 22nd Chief. ''It is universally
acknowledged that the Memorialist''s family is lineally descended from
the Norwegian Kings of Man and the Western Islands.'' We are not
entirely dependent on MacLeod traditions for the claim that the Clan is
of Norse origin. The KILBRIDE MANUSCRIPT of the MacLauchlins, a
MacLean genealogy, the family pedigree drawn up by Dubhaltach
MacFirbisigh and the writings of Captain Thomas last century also
proclaim the Norse origin of the Clan, though they differ considerably in
particulars. All these genealogies were collected and closely examined
by Canon Roderick MacLeod. He decided that the traditional account
accepted by the Clan for centuries was correct.