He 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 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 action in allying himself with France and not with England. He burned Patrick Hamilton and other heretics, and died at St Andrews in September 1539.
This prelate must not be confused with another, James Beaton, or Bethune (1517-1603), the last Roman Catholic archbishop of Glasgow. A son of John Bethune of Auchmuty and a nephew of Cardinal Beaton, James was a trusted adviser of the Scottish regent, Mary of Lorraine, widow of James V, and a determined foe of the reformers. In 1552 he was consecrated archbishop of Glasgow, but from 1560 until his death in 1603 he lived in Paris, acting as ambassador for Scotland at the French court.