BUCHANAN, George, the chief repre sentative of humanism in Scotland: b. near Killearn, Stirlingshire, February 1506; d. Edin burgh, 28 Sept. 1582. He came of Celtic stock, and his family though poor was of honorable descent, tracing connection some five genera tions back with the great houses of Albany and Lennox. His father died while George was a child, and the family of five sons and three daughters was brought up by his mother, born Agnes Heriot of Trabroun in Haddingtonshire. His early education was gained at the common schools, tradition naming those of Killearn and Dumbarton; and at the age of 14 he was sent by his maternal uncle to the University of Paris, then in the throes of the struggle be tween humanism and Lutherism on the one hand, and scholasticism and Catholicism on the other. He remained here for two years, principal academic occupation being the writ ing of Latin verse. At the end of these two years, the death of his uncle and his own serious illness compelled his return to Scot land. In the autumn of 1523 he took part in an abortive expedition against England, led by the Regent Albany. In the spring of 1525 he went to Saint Andrews, where he graduated in October of the same year, the fee for his bachelor's certificate being remitted on account of poverty. He returned to Paris in 1526, and, after two years as a bursar of the Scots Col lege there, he took his master's degree. Be ginning in 1529, he taught for three years as "regent* in the College of Sainte Barbe, one of the most fully equipped and most liberal in the university, receiving food and lodging from the college and fees from the students. Here he was already known as a writer of stinging epigrams. He resigned his regentship to be come tutor to the young Earl of Cassillis, a post he occupied for five years, living at first in Paris, but returning to Scotland with his pupil in 1536. It was during the latter part of this engagement that he first roused the antagonism of the Franciscan order by his 'Somnium,' a Latin poem paraphrasing the well-known Scots satire 'How Dunbar was desyrit to be ane Fryer.' At the conclusion of his period with Cassillis, he was appointed tutor to one of the natural sons of James V, and through this came into close relations with the court. At the instance of the King he produced two more short satires against the Franciscans, and began his 'Franciscanus,' a brilliant and elaborate piece of invective, finished much later. The wrath aroused by these attacks forced Buchanan to flee from Scotland to save his life; and after a short sojourn in England, where he addressed poems to Henry VIII and Cromwell, he re turned to Paris. There he found Cardinal Beatoun, who had been the chief agent in driving him out of Scotland, and for safety he was glad to accept a position in the College de Guyenne at Bordeaux, under Andre de Gouvea, formerly his colleague at Sainte Barbe. He re
mained here three years, counting among his pupils the celebrated Montaigne, and among his acquaintances, J. C. Scaliger. While at Bor deaux, Buchanan translated into Latin the 'Medea' and the 'Alcestis' of Euripides, and composed his two original dramas, and (Baptistes.' Leaving Bordeaux in 1542 or 1543, he seems to have returned to Paris, where he may have taught till about 1545 in the Col lege du Cardinal Lemoine; but the record of these years is obscure, and for the next three we are altogether without evidence as to his residence or occupation. In 1547 we find him in Portugal, again under Andre de Gouvia, teaching in the College of Arts of the Univer sity of Coimbra. On Gouvea's death, the col lege fell into the hands of the Jesuits, who pro ceeded to accuse Buchanan of heresy. After a persecution of a year and a half, he was shut up for some months in a monastery to be in structed in the true faith by the monks. There he made most of his famous Latin translations of the Psalms, and during the same period pro duced his poems to Leonora. On his liberation in 1552, he spent a short time in England, then returned to France, where for a while he held once more the office of regent, this time in the College Boncourt. In 1555 his patron, Charles du Cos* Comte de Brissac, appointed him tutor to his son Timoleon, whom he instructed from the age of 12 to that of 17, living some times in France, sometimes in Italy. During these years Buchanan seems to have given closer attention than formerly to the religious controversies of the day; and when he returned to Scotland about 1561, he took the side of the reformed Church of Scotland. In spite of this decision for Protestantism, we find him soon after his return acting as tutor to Queen Mary and writing court masques and complimentary poems. He received an annual pension of 250 pounds Scots (pound Scots = 1/12 of an Eng lish pound), a sum apparently inadequate to his needs. In 1564 the Queen bestowed on him a pension of 500 pounds Scots from the income of the abbey of Crossraguel, but this he seems to have had difficulty in collecting. His friendly relations with Mary continued till the murder of Darnley in 1567, which turned him into her open enemy. He wrote the virulent Maria: Regime Scotorum,' the work which was the chief means of spreading throughout Europe a belief in the guilt of the Queen. Meantime Buchanan had become an important figure in the Scottish Church, and in 1567 he was mod erator of the General Assembly which de manded Mary's abdication in favor of her son. About this time he produced his two most im portant vernacular writings, the to the Trew Lordis,' a pamphlet in support of the young King James and against the house of Hamilton; an the 'Chamaeleon,' an attack on Maitland of Lethington.