Hugh MacDonald's tale of the Maurice MacNeill saving Olav's ship: Hugh was writing in the 16th century
The Scottish writers of the period were busily concocting fabulous histories for their clans, linking them to Norman families in France, to famous Viking adventurers, and even to King Arthur of the Round table (the Campbells).
The MacDonalds have a tale of their ancestor Somerled going to Ireland and meeting with the Maguires, Lords of Fermanagh, and remote kinsmen thanks to a shared descent with the three Collas. Somerled died in 1164 and the Maguires did not even come into power in Fermanagh into the early 1200's, …Hugh MacDonald tale of the wright Maurice MacNeill not referred to on most MacIntyre sources ……After the story of the sinking ship and the wright, Hugh goes on to relate the various exploits of Somerled until his death in 1164. He was killed, Hugh informs us, by his nephew Maurice Mac Neill, who slipped into his tent and ran him through with a sword, then escaped into the night. This is of course the very same Maurice mac Neill who helped Somerled win Olav's wife earlier in the tale. …Conventional tales of Somerled's death know nothing of this traitor Maurice Mac Neill, Somerled's nephew.
The MacDonalds also claim the MacDonnells of Clan Kelly in Fermanagh were their descendants, when in fact there is no connection between the two families. They also claim the name of their ancestor Gilla-Adhomnain, appears on a stone cross in Co. Sligo in Ireland, which is (The Red Book of Clanranald). Maurice MacNeill was a foster-brother of Olay's (King Olaf of Mann) and a near friend of Somerled's. Then later in the tale this same Maurice MacNeill is encountered, with the further information that he was the son of Somerled's sister (who must have married a MacNeill). The MacNeills of Barra, MacLachlans, MacSweens, etc. all claim a descent from the Ó Neills of Ulster, from an ancestor named Anrothan. There is, however, an alternate pedigree in the Gaelic MS. 1467 which has Anrothan descend from the same stock as Somerled and the MacDonalds. In particular for Maurice MacNeill, the son of Somerled's sister, and a foster brother to King Olaf of the Isle of Mann. This Maurice was a MacNeill. Is so; The main and oldest branch were the MacNeills of Barra - but the MacNeills were in possession of Castle Sween in Knapdale in Argyle in the 1300's; apparently they later picked up their possessions on the island of Barra and Gigha. They claim an ancestry common to several other Argyle clans, including the MacLachlans, the MacEwens of Otter, the MacSweens of Castle Sween, and the MacSorleys of Moneydrain. As how and when the MacIntyres picked up their lands in Kintire?
Hugh MacDonald states that King colm rewarded Maurice MacNeill for his treachery in slaying Somerled with the lands that were formerly promised to him. And we know from the story that the lands King colm wanted to seize from Somerled were the lands of Argyle and Kintire Maurice is called Macarill, or Maurice. Only the name Maurice appears in Hugh MacDonald's story; Cean-Tire or Kintire - combined with Tir for land, or headland. Kintire is a peninsula which juts out into the ocean from Scotland, so headland might be appropriate. the coat of arms for MacIntyre and MacDonald have exactly the same elements but in different places: A hand holding a cross A Norse Galley or ship A eagle or a fierce bird of some kind. the MacIntyres of Scotland were claiming a descent from the MacDonalds with this coat of arms. Or did Scottish septs routinely adapt the insignia of the Lords under whom they lived/? If the arms were adapted by the MacIntyres after the 15th century (or when Hugh MacDonald's history became well known) if they were of long-standing use, say from the 13th or 14th century, then it might have some significance.
MacArill does not appear to be a form of Maurice. In Irish, this is usually the anglicized from of Muiris; and it's largely a Norman name. The Irish names Muirchertach and Muirdoch are also occasionally rendered "Maurice" by older writers…. the form MacArill before? The name in fact appears to be a name similar to MacTire or 'son of the wolf', or to MacIntyre. the name MacArill is a highly corrupted from of Mac Torquill. Torquill is a very common name among the MacNeills; in fact one of the founders of one of their branches bore the name. And there are at least some similarities between the name Mac Torquill and MacTire, although admittedly they are superficial at this point. if the name MacIntyre might be a gaelicised version of Mac Torquill? Like MacTire, this name may have taken the form as a surname: the name Maurice MacNeill in Hugh MacDonald's history meant simply Maurice the son of Neill (and not the surname, MacNeill).
Leod was the son of Olaf the Black, King of Man and the North Isles, in the 13th Century. Olaf was himself descended from the royal Norse dynasty of Ynglingar. The two main branches of the clan descend from the two sons of Leod: Tormod and Torquil. MacLeod of Harris, Lewis & Skye: MacLeod of Harris, Glenelg and Dunvegan (Clan Tormod), MacLeod of Lewis, Waternish and Assynt (Clan Torquil), Askey, Beaton, Bethune, Beton, Callum, Harold, Lewis, MacAskill, MacCabe, MacCaig, MacCaskill, MacClure, MacCorkindale, MacCorquodale, MacCrimmon, MacCrimmor, MacCuaig, MacHarold, MacKaskill, MacLewis, Maclure, MacNicol, MacRaild, Malcolmson, Nicolson, Norman, Tolmie
Hugh MacDonald described the descendants of this brother of Giolla Brigde as clann Domhnall of Tyrone would not mean their surname was MacDonald. The Domhnall in the MacDonald pedigree from whom the 'Clan Domhnall' designation was taken was a great-grandson of Giolla Brigde. Any descendant not of this line should not have been described as 'Clann Domhnall". … People of the Domhnall as in … de Domhnall view the names meaning differently and places not mentioned in record. The Book of Clanranald only states that Somerled was "slain by his page, who took his head to the king, in the yeare of our Lord 1180 (1164)." no mention a Maurice MacNeill or a Macarill. Mac Thorquill, now MacCorkle.as is close to the "Macarill' spelling` Mac Thorquill was the original form of the name Maurice in Hugh MacDonald's history. since Macarill MacNeill would result in "Mac Thorquill macNeill,' but perhaps what was intended was simply Thorquill MacNeill. "Thor" element in this name is what the 'Clann Tyre'' name for the MacIntyres of Scotland is based on. (Tor, Tire, Tyre, etc.)