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BEATON (or BETIIUNE), DAVID, (c. 1494...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 583 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEATON (or BETIIUNE), See also:DAVID, (c. 1494-1546)  , Scottish See also:cardinal and See also:archbishop of St See also:Andrews, was a younger son of See also:John See also:Beaton of See also:Balfour in the See also:county of See also:Fife, and is said to have been See also:born in the See also:year 1494 . He was educated at the See also:universities of St Andrews and See also:Glasgow, and in his sixteenth year was sent to See also:Paris, where he studied See also:civil and See also:canon See also:law . About this See also:time he was presented to the rectory of Campsie by his See also:uncle See also:James Beaton, then archbishop of Glasgow . When James Beaton was translated to St Andrews in 1522 he resigned the See also:rich abbacy of See also:Arbroath in his See also:nephew's favour, under See also:reservation of one See also:half of the revenues to himself during his lifetime . The See also:great ability of Beaton and the patronage of his uncle ensured his rapid promotion to high offices in the See also:church and See also:kingdom . He was sent by See also:King James V. on various See also:missions to See also:France, and in 1528 was appointed keeper of the privy See also:seal . He took a leading See also:part in the negotiations connected with the king's marriages, first with Madeleine of France, and afterwards with See also:Mary of See also:Guise . At the See also:French See also:court he was held in high estimation by King See also:Francis I., and was consecrated See also:bishop of Mirepoix in See also:Languedoc in See also:December 1537 . On the loth of December 1538 he was appointed a cardinal See also:priest by See also:Pope See also:Paul III., under the See also:title of St See also:Stephen in the Coelian See also:Hill . He was the only Scotsman who had been named to that high See also:office by an undisputed right, Cardinal See also:Wardlaw, bishop of Glasgow, having received his See also:appointment from the See also:anti-pope See also:Clement VII . On the See also:death of Archbishop James Beaton in 1539, the cardinal was raised to the primatial see of See also:Scotland . Beaton was one of King James's most trusted advisers, and it was mainly due to his See also:influence that the king See also:drew closer the French See also:alliance and refused See also:Henry VIII.'s overtures to follow him in his religious policy .

On the death of James in December 1542 he attempted to assume office as one of the regents for the See also:

infant See also:sovereign Mary, See also:founding his pretensions on an alleged will of the See also:late king; but his claims were disregarded, and the See also:earl of See also:Arran, See also:head of the great See also:house of See also:Hamilton, and next See also:heir to the See also:throne, was declared See also:regent by the estates . The cardinal was, by See also:order of the regent, committed to the custody of See also:Lord See also:Seaton; but his imprisonment was merely nominal, and he was soon again at See also:liberty and at the head of the party opposed to the See also:English alliance . Arran too was soon won over to his views, dismissed the preachers by whom he had been surrounded, and joined the cardinal at See also:Stirling, where in See also:September 1543 Beaton crowned the See also:young See also:queen . In the same year he was raised to the office of See also:chancellor of Scotland, and was appointed protonotary apostolic and See also:legate a latere by the pope . Had Beaton confined himself to See also:secular politics, his strenuous opposition to the plans of Henry VIII. for the subjugation of Scotland would have earned him the lasting gratitude of his countrymen . Unfortunately politics were inextricably interwoven with the religious controversies of the time, and resistance to English influence involved resistance to the activities of the reformers in the church, whose ultimate victory has obscured the cardinal's genuine merits as a statesman . During the lifetime of his uncle, Beaton had shared in the efforts of the See also:hierarchy to suppress the reformed doctrines, and pursued the same See also:line of conduct still more systematically after his See also:elevation to the primacy . The popular accounts of the persecution for which he was responsible are no doubt exaggerated, and it sometimes ceased for considerable periods so far as See also:capital punishments were concerned . When the sufferers were of humble See also:rank not much See also:notice was taken of them . It was otherwise when a more distinguished victim was selected in the See also:person of See also:George See also:Wishart . Wishart had returned to Scotland, after an See also:absence of several years, about the end of 1544 . His sermons produced a great effect, and he was protected by several barons of the English See also:faction .

These barons, with the knowledge and approbation of King Henry, were engaged in a See also:

plot to assassinate the cardinal, and in this plot Wishart is now proved to have been a willing See also:agent . The cardinal, though ignorant of the details of the plot, perhaps suspected Wishart's knowledge of it, and in any See also:case was not sorry to have an excuse for seizing one of the most eloquent supporters of the new opinions . For some time he was unsuccessful; but at last, with the aid of the regent, he arrested the preacher, and carried him to his See also:castle of St Andrews . On the 28th of See also:February 1546 Wishart was brought to trial in the See also:cathedral before the cardinal and other See also:judges, the regent declining to take any active part, and, being found guilty of See also:heresy, was condemned to death and burnt . The death of Wishart produced a deep effect on the Scottish See also:people, and the cardinal became an See also:object of See also:general dislike, which encouraged his enemies to proceed with the See also:design they had formed against him . Naturally resolute and fearless, he seems to have under-estimated his danger, the more so since his See also:power had never seemed more secure . He crossed over to See also:Angus, and took part in the See also:wedding of his illegitimate daughter with the heir of the earl of See also:Crawford . On his return to St Andrews he took up his See also:residence in the castle . The conspirators, the See also:chief of whom were See also:Norman See also:Leslie, See also:master of See also:Rothes, and See also:William Kirkaldy of See also:Grange, contrived to obtain See also:admission at daybreak of the 29th of May 1546,' and murdered the cardinal under circumstances of horrible mockery and atrocity . The See also:character of Beaton has already been indicated . As a statesman he was able, resolute, and in his general policy patriotic . As an ecclesiastic he maintained the privileges of the hierarchy and the dominant See also:system of belief conscientiously, but always with harshness and sometimes with See also:cruelty .

His immoralities, like his acts of persecution, were exaggerated by his opponents; but his private See also:

life was undoubtedly a See also:scandal to See also:religion, and has only the excuse that it was not worse than that of most of his order at the time . The authorship of the writings ascribed to him in several See also:biographical notices rests on no better authority than the apocryphal statements of See also:Thomas See also:Dempster . Beaton's uncle, James Beaton, or See also:Bethune (d . 1539), See also:arch-bishop of Glasgow and St Andrews, was lord treasurer of Scotland before he became archbishop of Glasgow in 1509, was chancellor from 1513 to 1526, and was appointed archbishop of St Andrews and See also:primate of Scotland in 1522 . He was one of the regents during the minority of James V., and was chiefly responsible for this king's See also:action in allying himself with France and not with See also:England . He burned See also:Patrick Hamilton and other heretics, and died at St Andrews in September 1539 . This See also:prelate must not be confused with another, James Beaton, or Bethune (1517—1603), the last See also:Roman See also:Catholic archbishop of Glasgow . A son of John Bethune of See also:Auchmuty and a nephew of Cardinal Beaton, James was a trusted adviser of the Scottish regent, Mary of See also:Lorraine, widow of James V., and a determined foe of the reformers . In 1552 he was consecrated archbishop of Glasgow, but from 156o until his death in 1603 he lived in Paris, acting as See also:ambassador for Scotland at the French court . See John See also:Knox, Hist. of the See also:Reformation in Scotland, ed . D . See also:Laing (1846–1864); John See also:Spottiswoode, archbishop of St Andrews, Hist: of the Church of Scotland (Spottiswoode See also:Soc., 1847–1851); See also:Art. in Dirt. of Nat .

Biog. and See also:

works there quoted; and A . See also:Lang, Hist. of Scotland, vols. i. and ii . (1900-1902) .

End of Article: BEATON (or BETIIUNE), DAVID, (c. 1494-1546)
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