University of Melbourne: Early Modern Circle – Additional Seminar: University of Melbourne: Early Modern Circle: Dr Lizanne Henderson (University of Glasgow)

Details of an additional Early Modern Circle Seminar are found below. Details about the rest of the 2014 seminar series can be found HERE.

Lizanne Henderson (School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow), “Fairies, Angels and the Land of the Dead: Robert Kirk’s Lychnobious People”

Date: Wednesday 4 June, 2014
Time: 5:15pm
Venue: Graduate Seminar Room 1, Old Arts Room Building Level 1, University of Melbourne,

The relationship between fairies and the dead is long-standing and complex. While at times the resemblances between them can be so close as to be almost indistinguishable, it will not be the intention of this paper to suggest they are one and the same but simply to be aware of, and take into consideration, the interconnectedness of fairy lore with traditions surrounding death and the dead.

Rev Robert Kirk (1644-1692), author of The Secret Common-Wealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies (1691), produced an invaluable corpus of information, and a rare insight into various aspects of seventeenth-century Scottish folk belief, drawn from a range of oral informants, eye-witness accounts, local history and personal experience, supported by biblical and classical sources. It was Kirk’s intention to record ‘evidence’ of fairy belief (and related phenomena such as second sight) in part to uphold and strengthen belief in the existence of angels, the Devil, and the Holy Spirit. His underlying argument was that to disbelieve in fairies is to doubt the very existence of God. Kirk did not perceive a dichotomous relationship between Christian doctrine and folk belief, a polarization that had been so rigorously asserted by the reformed church. He maintained that fairy belief was not inconsistent with Christianity.

This paper will examine Robert Kirk’s ideas about the soul, supernatural communication, second sight, angels, and the relationship between fairies and the dead.

Dr Lizanne Henderson’s main research interests are the European and African witch-hunts, critical animal studies, slavery and abolition, and the Scottish diaspora in North America, Australasia, Africa and the Caribbean. She is currently working on a project about cultural interactions with and interpretations of Polar Bears and on 18th and 19th century polar explorers and their observations of animals. Her books include (with Edward J. Cowan) Scottish Fairy Belief: A History (2001; (ed.) Fantastical Imaginations: The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture; (ed.) A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland 1000 to 1600 (2011). She is currently writing Witchcraft and Folk Belief in Enlightenment Scotland (forthcoming Palgrave 2015).