Robert Kirk (folklorist)
| Robert Kirk | |
|---|---|
| Born |
9 December 1644 Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland |
| Died | 14 May 1692 (aged 47) Doon Hill, Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland |
| Other names | "The Fairy Minister" |
| Alma mater |
University of St Andrews (1664) University of Edinburgh (1661) |
| Occupation | Minister, scholar, folklorist |
| Known for |
The Secret Commonwealth (1692) An Biobla Naomhtha (1688) Psalma Dhaibhidh an Meadradchd (1684) Ministry at Balquhidder |
| Spouse(s) | Isobel Campbel (died 1680) Margaret Campbell of Fordie |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | James Kirk |
Robert Kirk (9 December 1644 – 14 May 1692) was a minister, Gaelic scholar and folklorist, best known for The Secret Commonwealth, a treatise on fairy folklore, witchcraft, ghosts, and second sight, a type of extrasensory perception described as a phenomenon by the people of the Scottish Highlands. Folklorist Stewart Sanderson and mythologist Marina Warner call Kirk's collection of supernatural tales one of the most important and significant works on the subject of fairies and second sight.
In the late 1680s, Kirk travelled to London to help publish one of the first translations of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic. Gentleman scientist Robert Boyle financed the publication of the Gaelic Bible and pursued inquiries into Kirk's reports of second sight. Kirk died before he was able to publish The Secret Commonwealth. Legends arose after Kirk's death saying he had been taken away to fairyland for revealing the secrets of the Good People.
Scottish author Walter Scott first published Kirk's work on fairies more than a century later in 1815.Andrew Lang later gave it the popular title, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies (1893). Multiple editions of The Secret Commonwealth have since been published, with notable scholarly analysis by Sanderson, Mario M. Rossi, and Michael Hunter.
Kirk was born in Aberfoyle, Scotland, the seventh and youngest son of James Kirk, minister at Aberfoyle, Perthshire. He studied theology at St Andrews and received his master's degree at Edinburgh in 1661. Kirk became minister of Balquhidder in 1664, and later of Aberfoyle, from 1685 until his death. In 1670, he married his first wife, Isobel Campbel, the daughter of Sir Colin Campbel of Mochaster. Isobel produced a son, Colin, who became a writer to the signet. When she died on 25 December 1680, Kirk cut out an epitaph for her with his own hands. His second wife, Margaret, the daughter of Campbell of Fordy, bore him a second son, Robert, who became a minister at Dornoch, Sutherlandshire.
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