James Beaton

Who was James Beaton?

James Beaton was a 16th-century archbishop of Glasgow. He was the son of James Beaton of Balfarg and nephew to Cardinal David Beaton. James Beaton got an education at the University of Paris, which he entered in the 1530s at the age of 14.

On the resignation of the archbishop-elect Alexander Gordon, the archbishopric of Glasgow became vacant. Despite not being yet in priests's orders, on September 4, 1551, at the request of Marie de Guise, Pope Julius III provided Beaton to the archbishopric of Glasgow. He was consecrated on Sunday August 28, 1552 at Rome by the bishops of Abruzzo, Nevers and Fondi. was ordained in Rome, and consecrated there on the August 28, 1552. For eight troublous years he administered the affairs of his diocese and stood faithfully by the queen-regent, Marie de Guise, in her dealings with the disaffected Protestant nobles. In March, 1559, he was at the provincial council at Edinburgh summoned by the primate, Archbishop Hamilton — the last assembly of the kind which was to meet in Scotland for three hundred and twenty-six years.