George Buchanan had an eventful career. Tutor to Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI, imprisoned and tortured by the Inquisition in Portugal, teacher of Montaigne in France and a leader of the Scottish Reformation, Buchanan was regarded throughout 16th-century Europe as the greatest poet of his age. His poetry ranges from satire to celebration, from elegy to devotional verse, and is full of wit. However, his choice of Latin as a medium has distanced readers from his work, and his poetry, celebrated across all of Europe during the Renaissance, is now rarely read.
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