Etudes Epistémè (Apr 2009)
“Securus est quem civium servat fidem” – “he whom the citizens’ loyalty preserves is safe” (Baptistes, scene viii, l. 1213): The People, the King and the Tyrant in George Buchanan’s Dramatic and Political Works
Abstract
George Buchanan was a major source of inspiration for John Milton. His tragedy Baptistes sive Calumnia (1577), written in Latin, offers an insight into Buchanan’s political theory such as expounded in his famous dialogue De Iure regni apud Scotos, namely his view of a limited monarchy, a theory which in many ways has a revolutionary potential.