d been strengthened by the death of many of the higher
clergy at Flodden. The first outcome of the new connexion was his
appointment to the abbacy of Aberbrothock by the queen regent, before
her marriage, probably in June 1514. Soon after the marriage she
nominated him archbishop of St Andrews, in succession to Elphinstone,
archbishop-designate. But Hepburn, prior of St Andrews, having obtained
the vote of the chapter, expelled him, and was himself in turn expelled
by Forman, bishop of Moray, who had been nominated by the pope. 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. The breach between the queen's party and Albany's had
widened, and the queen's advisers had begun an intrigue with England, to
the end that the royal widow and her young son should be removed to
Henry's court. In those deliberations Gavin Douglas took an active part,
and for this reason stimulated the opposition which successfully
thwarted his preferment.

In January 1515 on the death of George Brown, bishop of Dunkeld,
Douglas's hopes revived. The queen nominated him to the see, which he
ultimately obtained, though not without trouble. For the earl of Athole
had forced his brother, Andrew Stewart, prebendary of Craig, upon the
chapter, and had put him in possession of the bishop's palace. The queen
appealed to the pope and was seconded by her brother of England, with
the result that the pope's sanction was obtained on the 18th of February
1515. Some of the correspondence of Douglas and his friends incident to
this transaction was intercepted. When Albany came from France and
assumed the regency, these documents and the "purchase" of the bishopric
from Rome contrary to statute were made the basis of an attack on
Douglas, who was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, thereafter in the
castle of St Andrews (under the charge of his old opponent, Archbishop
Hepburn), and later in the castle of Dunbar, and again in Edinburgh. The
pope's intervention procured his release, after nearly a year's
imprisonment. The queen meanwhile had retired to England. After July
1516 Douglas appears to have been in possession of his see, and to have
patched up a diplomatic peace with Albany.

On the 17th of May 1517 the bishop of Dunkeld proceeded with Albany to
France to conduct the negotiations which ended in the treaty of Rouen.
He was back in Scotland towards the end