e E A 



100 



B E A 



in parliament M abbot of Arbroath ; and in October, l.v.T. 

 John Beaton of Ballbur and other* having been indicted 

 for an assault upon the sheriff of File, and found bail fur 

 their appearance, the abbot became bound to relieve John 

 WardlawofTorryofthecautionry. (Pitc. Trim. Trial*.) On 

 the fall of (he Earl of Angus, and the surrender of George 

 bishop of Dunkcld, he was appointed Lord Privy Seal, in 

 1528 the name year in which the great convent of 1!1. >.,!,- 

 friars at Edinburgh, in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 which Beaton anil his uncle had their magnificent abode, 

 was burnt down to the ground by a sudden fire. In Febru- 

 ary. 1 533. Beaton, now prothonotary apostolic, was sent am- 

 bassador to France, with Secretary Erskinc, to trcnt of a 

 league with that crown, and also of a matrimonial alliance 

 with the Princess Magdalene; and when the King of Scots 

 proceeded thither on the same object, Beaton was one of the 

 fords of live regency appointed by commission, of date J'Hli 

 August, 1536, to conduct the government in his absence. 

 On Queen Magdalene's decease, he was joined in an em- 

 bassy to the house of Guise, to treat of a match with M.n-y, 

 widow of the Duke of Longuevillc ; and we find that, agree- 

 ably to the common practice of that time, he, before going 

 abroad, obtained the king's special protection for his friends 

 and dependants iu his absence. (Reg. Privy Seal, x. 163-1.) 

 It is probable that, when in France on this occasion, he pro- 

 cured the papal bull of date 12th February, 15:17, for the 

 erection of St. Mary's College at St Andrew's. In Novem- 

 ber, 153", he was made a denizen of France, and on the 5th 

 of next month consecrated Bishop of Mirepoix in Langucdoc. 

 On his rcUrn home he was mode coadjutor in the see of St. 

 Andrew's, and successor to his uncle, who being now much 

 advanced in years, devolved on him the charge of church 

 affairs. He seems afterwards to have gone abroad again, for 

 on the 20th December, 1538, Pope Paul III. advanced him 

 to the cardinalate, by the title of Sancti Stephani in Monte 

 Coelio, the same style which was borne by Cardinal John de 

 Salerno, who presided at a council of the Scottish cler-iy in 

 1201; and on the 20th June, 1539, the King of France 

 directed new letters of naturalization in his favour, with a 

 further clause allowing his heirs to succeed to his estate in 

 France, though born and living in Scotland. About this 

 time also we find him ' legatus natus' of the Roman s, ,. 

 On the death of his uncle in the autumn of 1539, he was 

 fully invested in the primacy of St. Andrew's, the privy seal 

 being again returned to the Bishop of Dunkeld. These ac- 

 cumulated honours he no doubt mainly owed to the inlluence 

 of his deceased uncle ; but Beaton was already both an able 

 and zealous son of the church. His authority, zeal, and 

 ability now made him truly formidable : and that he might 

 devote them all to the politics of the church, with consent 

 of the king and pope, he devolved his diocesan duties mi 

 the dean of Restalrig, as his suffragan. On the 28th May, 

 I ") 10, he convened a large assembly of ecclesiastics and 

 others in the cloisters of St. Andrew's, and on their con- 

 viction of Sir John Borthwick for heresy in holding Pro- 



t opinions, pronounced sentence of outlawry and for- 

 feiture ayainst him, with solemn burning of his ed'!i;j at the 

 market-cross of the city. But not liking the odium which 

 mu.-,t ensue to the clergy if they continued to put their sen- 

 execution, a promise was made to the king of 

 30,000 ducats of gold yearly, and 100.000 ducats more out 

 of the estate* of condemned heretics, if he would appoint a 

 judge in heresy. The avaricious James consented, and 



d Sir James Hamilton, natural brother of the Earl of 

 Arran. to the ollice, in which, ho-.vi \or well fitted for it by 

 lj -> intolerance and ferocity, he fortunately did not long 

 remain, being attainted of treason and beheaded. 



On the gOUl December, I.-1-J, the king died, leaving 

 an infant daughter, eight days old, hoir to the throne, 

 but for whoso safety or that of the kingdom during her mi- 

 nority he had made no provision. Heaton had in the inter- 

 val gone abroad ; for in the Lord Treasurer s accounts we 

 find a large sum entered ' for expenses made upon the 

 Grrat I'niiitrn. Jul. i 1. l.i-||, at her passing to France with 



irdinal:' l>ut he returned before the death of . I 

 and on the king's demise he produced a testament, which 

 he allinned wax subscribed by his majesty, appointing him 



i of the king-loin and guardian ID "the infant queen. 



locument was a base forger) ; and as the nobility 



\perieneed enough of Beaton'* rule, thev roused from 



his inactivity James, Earl of Arran, next heir'to the qm-en, 



pr.d appointed him to the regency. The power, however, 



which Beaton failed to obtain directly, he obtained by his 



address ; ami not only got the nobles to accede to his view* 

 of government, but also induced the timid regent publicly 

 to abjure the doctrines nf the Reformation. 



In December. 1543, the great seal wa taken from the 

 Archbishop of Glasgow and bestowed on Beaton, w hon. 

 on very strong letters from the regent, POJH? Paul III., by 

 bull of 30lh January following, constituted his lcaic <i 

 in Scotland. Thus he was placed at the head both of church 

 and state, including also the whole civil judicature . 

 kingdom, Iwing r.r offirio principal of the Court of Se 

 the supreme judicatory in civil causes: and as he did not 

 scruple to employ these exUiiMve powers for furthering Ins 

 own views, he appears to have IK.TII looked upon as : 

 of wild U-ast whom it was not murder to dcstioy. 

 king of England, in particular, whose friendship . 

 nounced at the instigation of the cardinal and the 5 

 faction, for an alliance with France, an\iouslv desired his 

 death ; and in the instructions of the English p: 

 of date 10th April, 1544, the Earl ot Hcrtfoio 

 inanded. in his inroad into Scotland, tn sack ami i! 

 Edinburgh and Leith, ' and this done, pass over to the 

 land, and extend like extremities and destruction to the 

 towns and villages there, not forgetting amoiiL"-t ail the 

 rest so to spoil and turn upside down the cardinals town of 

 St. Andrew's, as the up|>cr part may b- the nether, ai. 

 one stone stand upon another, sparing no creature alive 

 within the same, s|>ei -ially such as cither in friendship or 

 blood be allied unto the cardinal.' Henry soon found in 

 Scotland spirits congenial with his own ; for on the 17th of 

 the same month we find the Earl of Hertford communicating 

 to him a design by Wishart and others tosei/c or slay li 

 dinal, could they secure his majesty's protection and support. 



Beaton was haughty to all ; but to the reformers he 

 was particularly oppressive. In the beginning of l/j.15-6 

 he held a visitation of his diocese, and had great numbers 

 brought before him, under the act which had passed the 

 parliament in 1542-3, forbidding the lieges to argue or 

 dispute concerning the sense of the holy script \\\ 

 victiuns were quickly obtained ; and of those convicted, 

 five men were hanged and one woman drowned , some were 

 imprisoned, and others were banished. He next proceeded 

 to Edinburgh, and there called a council for the afl'-iirs of 

 the church; but they had scarce assembled when I 

 were brought that George Wishart, an eminent reformer 

 and worthy man, was at the house of Cockbimi of Ormision. 

 The cardinal instantly left the meeting, and went personally 

 to the sheriff of the county to have Wishart apprehended, 

 which being done, Wishart was carried over by the cardinal 

 to St. Andrew's, and shut up in the tower there. The fol- 

 lowing month the Ix>rd Justice General of Scotland held a 

 court at Perth at the instigation of the cardinal, and 'con- 

 demned to death and <rart hang four honest men for eating 

 of an goose in lent. Likeways they caused drown ane young 

 woman because she w aid not pray to our ladie and' other 

 sands in the t) me of her birth.' (PitBCOttie, 453.) l; 

 afterwards returned to St. Andrew's, and called a conven- 

 tion of his clergy, at which Wishart was comh nim-d IT 

 .. and adjudged to be burnt: a sentene" which (so 

 ;ily were the clergy bent on the accomplishment of 

 nds) \\as parsed in the face of a command 1 . 

 ; thiit the trial should proceed at Edinburgh, and 

 was put in force by the cardinal and his demy in <}<'' 

 of the recent, nnd without the aid of the civil 'power. For 

 this conduct the cardinal was loudly applaud 



.s. The cardinal afterwards proceeded to the abbey 

 of Aril-oath, to I: .-,- ol his eldest daughter b\ 



Marion O-ihv ol' the house of Airly, with whom lie had 

 in scandalous concubinage, and there, with in- 

 ntery, he pave her in m;irriag to ihe , Id. - 



of the Earl of Crawford, and with her -1000 rl.s ol dowry. 



The marriage articles subscribed by him are \et c 

 (Keith's lli\t. p. 42.) lie then returned to St." Aii'l. 

 where, on Saturday, 2'.)lh May. loJfi, he was put to dentil 

 ill his own chamber by a party of reformers, headed by 

 Norman Leslie, heir of the noble house of Hollies, who, wo 

 find, had on the 21th April, i:>l .1, ^iven the cardinal a bond 

 of manrenl*, and who, on private grounds, had n p : 

 quarrel \\itii the cardinal. His death was l.ital to the , 



1 oligarchy, which, under him, trampled alike on law, 

 liberty, ;i:id n-.i-Mii. 



Three works of the cardinal's are named : De Lfgalionibut 



of manrrnt Tre long common in Scotlnml. Thrv woro in (lie 

 nature of the ot.l!i;nln,ui uf homage ouel frill) b> a 1,-iuint to hit f.-u.lal luni. 



