Buchanan, George

(born February 1506, Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scot.—died Sept. 29, 1582, Edinburgh) Scottish humanist, scholar, and educator. As a teacher of Latin in Paris, Buchanan wrote bitter attacks on the Franciscans that landed him in jail for heresy. He escaped and became a teacher in Bordeaux, where Michel de Montaigne was one of his pupils. There he translated two of Euripides' plays into Latin and wrote original dramas. His paraphrase of the Psalms was long used for Latin instruction. At first a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, he later helped prepare the case that led to her execution. In De jure regni apud Scotos (1579), he argued for limited monarchy; Rerum Scotiacarum historia (1582) traces Scotland's history.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica