A short
distance from my home there is a monument in the small town of KiIlearn to one of the most important writers on democracy, reformer George Buchanan.
He was
one of the most significant literary and political figures of the 16th
century - poet, playwright, historian, humanist scholar, and teacher to the great French
essayist Michel de Montagne, Mary Queen of Scots and later to her son James
VI of Scotland and I of England (United Kingdom.)
Buchanan was
a native Gaelic speaker from lower loch Lomond. He was deeply impressed that
the Gael had held on to their language and culture for more than two thousand
years. He was a Catholic, who was committed himself to the Reformation, and he joined the Reformed Protestant church
in 1560s and published
In his article, The birth
of the Democratic Intellect, professor Alan Raich, (National July 2017)
discussed the importance of Buchanan’s writings. Buchanan wrote De Jure Regni apud Scotos, published in 1579 - one of the most important
books in all British (or European) literature on democracy for all. It is
originally the most essential text in our understanding of the constitution and
the state. (how many of us have heard of it?)
“His book follows the Declaration of
Arbroath (1320) in saying that all political power resides in the people, and it
must reside in the people: and that it is lawful and necessary to resist kings
(or queens, or we might say all rulers) if (or when) they become tyrants.
Buchannan was basing his argument at least
partly on his understanding of the clan system. There were many attempts to
suppress his work, in the century following – particularly by the king he tutored
and he foresaw where stupid Stewart vanity would lead. He was a major player in the European cultural context.”
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| monument to George buchanan at Killearn |
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George Buchanan 1508 - 1582 was a Scottish historian and
humanist
Buchanan
was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland
produced." His ideology of resistance to royal usurpation gained
widespread acceptance during the Scottish Reformation. Keith Brown says the
ease with which King James VII was deposed in 1689 shows the power of
Buchananite ideas.
His
father, a Highlander and a younger son of an old family, owned the farm of
Moss, in the parish of Killearn but he died young, leaving his widow,
five sons, and three daughters in poverty. George's mother, Agnes
Heriot, was of the family of the Heriots of Trabroun, of which George Heriot,
founder of Heriots hospital was also a member. Buchanan, a native speaker
of Gaelic. In 1520 he went to the
university of Paris and studied logic under John Mair.
In
1528 Buchanan graduated M.A. at Scots college, University of Paris. The
next year he was appointed regent or professor, in the, College of
Sainte-Barbe and taught there for over three years. Sainte-Barbe was one of the
most prestigious and advanced colleges at that time. George added to that
prestige by creating new reforms in teaching Latin. In 1529 he was elected
"Procurator of the German Nation" in the University of Paris, and
was re-elected four times in four successive months. He resigned his regentship
in 1531, and in 1532 became tutor to Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of
Cassilis with whom he returned to Scotland early in 1537. Though a layman, he was made Moderator of the General
assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1567. He had sat in the assemblies
from 1563.
The importance of
the work is proved by the persistent efforts of the legislature to suppress it
during the century following its publication. It was condemned by and act of
parliament in 1584
In the
lead-up to the anniversary Professor Roger Mason of the University of St
Andrews has published A
Dialogue on the Law of Kingship among the Scots, a critical edition and
translation of George Buchanan's 'De Iure Regni apud Scotos Dialogus.
