The Three Archbishops of the House of Bethune/Beaton

Abstract

This is a paper which might be about the Reformation in Scotland
but it is not. I will not attempt in this paper to give an account of the
opposition to the Reformation of Cardinal David Beaton which would require
a separate paper. What I desire to do instead is to refer to the three
Archbishops of the same family over a period of more than 100 years (1493
to 1603), as a background to some general points about power and influence in
a society dominated by clans and families and some thoughts on the
inextricable binding together of religion and politics in 16th century Scotland
as an illustration of that binding together throughout the whole of Europe
from much earlier times through to significantly later times.