In the interval, Douglas's rights in Aberbrothock had been transferred to James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, and he was now without title or temporality.
Reaching Beaton's Mill he revealed his identity, and, according to the popular story, was killed on the 11 th of June 1488 by a soldier in the guise of a priest who had been called in to shrive him.
It is not likely that he would write in support of Cardinal Beaton's policy, and the dialect is an exaggerated form of Latinized Middle Scots, differing materially from the language of the Compendious Book.
About this time he was presented to the rectory of Campsie by his uncle James Beaton, then archbishop of Glasgow.
When James Beaton was translated to St Andrews in 1522 he resigned the rich abbacy of Arbroath in his nephew's favour, under reservation of one half of the revenues to himself during his lifetime.