Robert Rollock
Minister of the Church of Scotland, theologian
Robert Rollock (c. 1555 – 8 or 9 February 1599) was a Scottish theologian and minister in the Church of Scotland, and the first regent and first principal of the University of Edinburgh. Born into a landowning family, he distinguished himself during his education at the University of St Andrews, which led to him being appointed regent of the newly created college in Edinburgh in 1583, and its first principal in 1586.
After the college had grown and other regents had been appointed, Rollock no longer had to perform everyday teaching, and he became the university's first Professor of Theology. In parallel to his academic duties, he acted as a minister and served in various church functions until his death in 1599. Rollock was acknowledged by his contemporaries as a prolific academic and Biblical scholar, and effective principal.
Life
Early life and education
Rollock was born in 1555, the son of David Rollock, laird of Powis, near Stirling, and his wife Mariota Livingston. He was one of at least eight children. He received his early education at the school of Stirling from Thomas Buchanan, a nephew of George Buchanan. Rollock then entered St Salvator's College at the University of St Andrews in 1574, obtaining his BA in 1576 and his MA likely in 1577.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert Rollock” is minister of the Church of Scotland, theologian. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Rollock and Minister, not as a finished interpretation.
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Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7349365. VIAF identifies the subject as 237087822. The Library of Congress control number is n85215436. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1555, 1599, 1583 and 1586.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Rollock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.