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David Beaton (also Beton or Bethune; 29 May 1546) was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scotland cardinal prior to the Reformation.
In 1520, his uncle, James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, named David Beaton Rector and Prebendary at Cambuslang. After his uncle became Archbishop of St. Andrews in 1522, he resigned the position of Commendator of Arbroath in favour of his nephew. David Beaton was with John Stewart, Duke of Albany in 1524.Henry Ellis, Original Letters, Series 1 vol. 1 (London, 1824), p. 243. In 1525, Beaton returned from France and took a seat as Lord Abbot of Arbroath Abbey in the Scottish Parliament. In 1528 the King named him Lord Privy Seal.
Between 1533 and 1542 he acted several times as King James V of Scotland's ambassador to France. He took a leading part in the negotiations connected with the King's marriages, first with Madeleine of France, and afterwards with Mary of Guise.Perin Westerhof Nyman, "Mourning Madeleine and Margaret: Dress and Meaning in the Memorials for Two Scottish Queens, 1537 and 1541", Scottish Historical Review, 100:3 (December 2021), p. 369. While in France, Beaton obtained hawks and wild boar for James V.Andrew Lang, "Letters of Cardinal Beaton 1537–1541", The Scottish Historical Review, 6:22 (January 1909), p. 157. In 1537 he was made coadjutor to his uncle at St. Andrews, with right of succession.
In December 1537 Beaton was made Bishop of Mirepoix in Languedoc on the recommendation of King Francis I, and consecrated the following summer. Presumably he was ordained around that time. Francis gave him silver gilt plate made by the Parisian goldsmith Jean Hotman.Léon, Marquis de Laborde, Les comptes des bâtiments du roi, 2 (Paris, 1877), pp. 246, 387. Also in 1538 he was appointed a Cardinal by Pope Paul III, under the title of St Stephen in the Caelian Hill.In February 1539 Cardinal Beaton succeeded his uncle as Archbishop of St. Andrews. In 1544, he was made Papal legate in Scotland.
Relations became strained between James V and his uncle, Henry VIII of England, who sought to detach the Catholic Church in Scotland from its allegiance to the Holy See and bring it into subjection to himself. Henry sent two successive embassies to Scotland to urge James to follow his example in renouncing the authority of the Pope in his dominions. King James declined to be drawn into Henry's plans and refused to leave his kingdom for a meeting with Henry. Hostilities broke out between the two kingdoms in 1542. The Cardinal was blamed by many for the war with England that led to the defeat at Solway Moss in November 1542.
By order of the Regent, Beaton was committed to the custody of Lord Seton, and imprisoned at Dalkeith Palace and then Blackness Castle. A papal interdict followed the arrest of the Cardinal Primate, according to which all churches of the country should be closed and administering the sacraments should be suspended.
With Beaton out of power, the Anglophile party persuaded Regent Arran to make a marriage treaty with England on behalf of the infant Queen, and to appoint a number of Protestant preachers. The treaties signed at Greenwich in July 1543 stipulated that Mary would be accompanied by an English nobleman/gentleman (and his wife) until she was ten years old and afterwards would reside in England until the time of her marriage. The union of the thrones of England and Scotland which the treaty envisaged was controversial from the start. Its Anglo-centric policy was resisted by many who preferred to continue the Auld Alliance with France. Resistance to the treaty resulted in a surge in the popularity of the French faction and the release of Beaton from prison. The Treaty of Greenwich was rejected by the Scottish Parliament on 11 December 1543, leading to eight years of Anglo-Scottish conflict known as the Rough Wooing.Loades, David Michael, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1504–53. Oxford University Press, 1996. In 1543 Beaton regained power, having earlier drawn up the "Secret Bond" against the marriage. Letters and Papers Henry VIII, 18:1 (London, 1901), no. 945: Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 630 no. 446.
In December 1545 Beaton arranged for the arrest, trial and execution of Protestant preacher George Wishart, who on 1 March 1546 was strangled and afterwards burned. Wishart had many sympathisers, and this led to the assassination of the Cardinal soon afterwards.
At the time of his death, Beaton was Lord Chancellor of Scotland, Archbishop of St Andrews, and Cardinal Legate in Scotland. Herkless, John. Cardinal Beaton, Priest and Politician, William Blackwood & sons, Edinburgh, 1891
Cardinal Beaton's oldest surviving son, David Beaton of Melgund, converted to Protestantism, and later became master of the household to James VI and to Anne of Denmark. His daughter Margaret married David Lindsay, 10th Earl of Crawford.Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume III, page 516.
During Mary's reign
James V died at Falkland Palace on 14 December 1542. Beaton tried to become one of the regents for the infant sovereign Mary, Queen of Scots. He based his claim on an alleged will of the late King; but the will was generally regarded as forged, and The 2nd Earl of Arran, heir presumptive to the throne, was declared regent. A copy of the alleged will was preserved by Regent Arran. Dated 14 December 1542 in the King's bedchamber at Falkland Palace, it was witnessed by James Learmonth of Dairsie, Master Household; Henry Kemp of Thomastoun, Gentleman of the Chamber; Michael Durham, the King's doctor; John Tennent, William Kirkcaldy of Grange, Master Michael Dysart, Preceptor of St Anthony's at Leith; John Jordan, Rector of Kirk Yetholm; Francis Aikman, perfumerer, and others at the bedside. However, the clerk who wrote the instrument, Henry Balfour, a canon of Dunkeld, was not a recognised notary. HMC 11th Report, part VI, Manuscripts of the Duke of Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 205, 219–220.
Death
Plots against Cardinal Beaton had begun circulating as early as 1544.
The conspirators were led by Norman Leslie, master of Rothes, and William Kirkcaldy of Grange. The Leslies had suffered from the expansion of Beaton's interest in Fife; while Kirkcaldy's uncle, James Kirkcaldy of Grange, held Protestant sympathies and had been removed in 1543 as treasurer of the realm, through Beaton's influence. They were joined by John Leslie of Parkhill, one of the Fife lairds angered at the murder of Wishart. Merriman, Marcus. "Castilians in St Andrews (act. 1546–1547)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 15 Nov 2013 Leslie and Kirkcaldy managed to obtain admission to St Andrews Castle at daybreak of 29 May 1546, killing the porter in the process. Leslie, Kirckcaldy, and Peter Carmichael of Balmadie used their daggers to stab the cardinal to death, mutilated the corpse, and hung it from a castle window.
Marion Ogilvy
Cardinal Beaton's mistress, Marion Ogilvy, was born in 1500, the youngest daughter of James Ogilvy, 1st Lord Ogilvy of Airlie. After the deaths of her parents, she managed the family estates in Angus. Around 1520 she met and fell in love with David Beaton. They lived together in Ethie Castle and produced eight children. According to Margaret H.B. Sanderson, their relationship, which appeared little different from marriage, deeply offended fellow Catholics who desired the Counter-Reformation. Furthermore, the double standard, under which the Cardinal prosecuted Protestants, who advocated the marriage of the clergy, for heresy, yet lived in blatant violation of his own vow of clerical celibacy, proved highly damaging in the long run to the Catholic Church in Scotland. Sanderson, Margaret H. B., "Ogilvy, Marion (d. 1575)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 accessed 15 Nov 2013
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Categories: Scottish Cardinals, Bishops Of Mirepoix, Scottish Diplomats, Abbots Of Arbroath, Alumni Of The University Of St Andrews, Alumni Of The University Of Glasgow, Archbishops Of St Andrews, 16th-century Roman Catholic Archbishops In Scotland, Chancellors Of The University Of St Andrews, Assassinated Scottish Politicians, 16th-century Cardinals, 1490s Births, 1546 Deaths, Cambuslang, People Murdered In Scotland, Court Of James V, Clergy From Fife, Ambassadors Of Scotland To France, 16th-century Diplomats, Mary Of Guise, Year Of Birth Uncertain, Politicians Assassinated In The 16th Century, 16th-century Christian Abbots
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