John Milton served as ‘the secretary for foreign tongues’

Following the English Civil War, John Milton established a political reputation for himself, which resulted in the state appointing him as the "secretary of foreign tongues" in 1649. Milton's duties included composing the foreign communications for the English Republic in Latin and creating propaganda. Official communication, the Letters of State, which were first published in 1694, provides documentation of his service to the government, which was primarily in the area of foreign policy. In his personal attack on Charles I, Eikonoklastes (1649), or Imagebreaker, which compared him to William Shakespeare's Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), a consummate hypocrite, Milton vehemently defended Cromwell's administration.

John Milton authored several of his best works during this time period, and he was very harsh in his criticism of the English monarchy, which is an interesting fact about him. He would hold this position until Cromwell's death, at which point he would be forced to flee after a warrant was issued for his arrest, forcing him to go into hiding in 1660.

Milton served as the Commonwealth Council of State's Secretary for Foreign Tongues from 1657 to 1660, but after going completely blind, his assistants Georg Rudolph Wecklein, Philip Meadows, and, starting in 1657, the poet Andrew Marvell handled the majority of the job.