BEA'TON, or BE'THITNE, DAVID, cardinal and primate of Scotland, a zealous oppo nent of the reformation in that Country, descended from a celebrated French family, was a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour, Fifeshire. Born in 1494, he became, in Oct., 1511, a student at the university of St. Andrews, and afterwards studied theology and the canon and civil laws of Paris. Early entering the church, be was preferred his uncle, James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, to the rectory of Campsie, Stirling shire. His tact and general abilities recommended him to the duke of Albany, regent during the minority of James V., who, in 1519, appointed him resident for Scotland at the French court. In 1595, he took his seat in the Scots parliament as abbot of Arbroath; his uncle, on being translated two years before to the archbishopric of St. Andrews, having resigned to him that abbey, with the half of the rents. Iu 1528, B. was appointed lord privy seal, and is said to have been the adviser of :lames V., in instituting the college of justice or court of session in Scotland. the idea of which was suggested by the constitution of the parliament of Paris. B. subsequently became prothonotary public, and was twice sent ambassador to France, to negotiate James's two marriages—first, with the French king's daughter, princess Magdalene, who died six months after her nuptials; and secondly, with Mary, duchess of Longueville, daugh ter of the duke of Guise. The king's union with the latter he soleinnized, in 1537, in the cathedral church of St. Andrews. During his residence at the French court, he was admitted to all the privileges of a French citizen, and appointed by Francis I. bishop of Mirepoix in Languedoc. After his return, he became coadjutor to his uncle in the see of St. Andrews, and on 28th Dec., 1538, on the recommendation of the king of France, was, by pope Paul III., elevated to the dignity of a cardinal. On his uncle's death, in 1539, he succeeded him as archbishop of St. Andrews and primate of Scotland. and soon commenced a furious persecution of the reformers, already numerous and increasing. That he might be invested with supreme authority in all matters ecclesiastical, he obtained from the pope the appointment of legates a Were in Scotland, and induced the king to institute a court of inquisition, to inquire after heretics in all parts of the king dom. To maintain the French influence, and prevZnt all danger to the Roman Catholic church in Scotland by a friendly connection with England. he contrived to frustrate a proposed meeting of king James with his uncle, Henry VIII., and even prevailed on
the former to declare war against his royal relative. On the death of James, after the disastrous overthrow of the Scots at Solway Moss, Dec. 14, 1542, B. produced a forged will of the late king, appointing himself, with three others, regents of the kingdom during the minority of the infant queen Mary. The nobility, however, rejected the fictitious document: and elected the earl of Arran regent, who then professed the reformed faith. The following month, B. was arrested and imprisoned, accused, among other charges, of a design to introduce French troops into Scotland, in order to stop the negotiations then in progress with Henry of England for a marriage between the young prince of Wales, afterwards..Edward VI., and the infant queen of Scots. He was soon after liberated, and reconciled to the regent, whom he induced to abandon the English interest, and publicly to abjure the reformed religion. On the young queen's coronation in 1543, B. was again admitted of the council, and appointed chancellor. He now renewed his persecution of the reformers; and, in .Jan., 1549, accompanied by the regent, he made a diocesan visitation of the counties under his jurisdiction, and punished with the utmost severity all the Protestants lie could find. At Perth, a number of persons, accused of heresy, were banished the city, others were imprisoned; three men were cruelly hanged, and one woman drowned. by his directions. During a provincial council of the clergy held at Edinburgh, at which he presided, lie caused the celebrated evangelical preacher, George Wishart, to be apprehended, and conveyed to the castle of St. Andrews, where he was burnt at the stake, B. and other prelates witnessing his from a window. A conspiracy having been formed against him, at the head of which were Norman Leslie and his brother, B. was assas,i nated iu his own castle of St. Andrews. 29th May 1546. Though endowed with great talents, B. possessed little learning. He is said, however, to have written Memoirs of' his Own Embassics; a treatise on St. Peter's Supremacy; and Letters to &cowl Persons, of which Dempster observes there are several copies extant in the imperial library at Paris. Haughty, cruel, and intolerant, he was also licentious in the extreme. Ile had six natural children. three sons and three daughters the latter married into families of distinction. One of his sons became a Protestant. His death was scarcely lamented by any party In the state.