Beaton or Bethune, David 1494-1546
Scottish statesman and Roman Catholic prelate

Born in Balfour, Fife, he was educated at St Andrews, Glasgow and Paris universities. He was Scottish 'resident' at the French court (1519) and was appointed Bishop of Mirepoix by Francis I (1537). In 1525 he took his seat in the Scots parliament as abbot of Arbroath and became Privy Seal. Elevated to cardinal (1538), he was made Archbishop of St Andrews in 1539. On James V's death, he produced a forged will, appointing himself and three others regents of the kingdom during the minority of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots. The nobility, however, elected the Protestant James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, regent. Beaton was arrested, but soon regained favour and was made Chancellor (1543). A persecutor of the Scottish Protestants, he had the reformer George Wishart burnt at St Andrews (1546), but was murdered in revenge three months later by a group of Protestant conspirators. He was the nephew of James Beaton.

Bibliography: Sir John Herkless, Cardinal Beaton: Priest and Politician (1891)