He brought with him from
Glasgow John Major--the one great schoolman of whom Scotland in the
sixteenth century could boast, who had upheld the reputation of his
country in the University of Paris as an able and successful teacher of
the philosophy and theology of the day. Major and Patrick Hamilton--the
one the representative of the old, the other of the new learning--were
incorporated into the University of St Andrews on the same day (9th June
1523); and, for at least two years, the former presided over the
_Paedagogium_, and probably lectured both on philosophy and theology. In
1525-26 he returned to Paris, partly that he might publish there his
commentaries on the Gospels, and partly that he might act again as a
teacher in that wider sphere; but a few years later, on a vacancy
occurring in the principality of St Salvator's College, he returned to
St Andrews, and continued in that more lucrative charge till his death.

It was mainly in his last years, however, that James Betoun set himself
in right earnest to complete the work which Archbishop Stewart had
begun. At his solicitation Pope Paul III., on 12th February 1537, issued
a bull annexing the teinds of the church of Tannadice, in Forfarshire,
and of the wealthier church of Tyninghame, in East Lothian, to the old
foundation, and erecting it into a privileged college under the title of
the Blessed Mary of the Assumption. In this college, medicine, law, and
theology, as well as arts, were henceforth to be taught, and the
privilege was granted to it of conferring degrees in all lawful
faculties, and of conferring them on those who had gained their
knowledge elsewhere as well as on those who had studied within the
college--in fact, making it almost a university within the University,
and conceding to it more extensive powers than were conceded to many
universities. His first work was to replace the decaying buildings of
the _Paedagogium_ by others more massive and commodious. That work was
far from finished at the time of his death, and having been intermitted
by his successor [the cardinal], was only completed by Archbishop
Hamilton, who, with papal sanction, reconstituted the college and added
to its endowments.

Early, however, in 1538, the first staff of teachers entered on their
work as a college organised and equipped "_ut militans Dei ecclesia
indies abundet viris litterarum scientia praeditis_," and few
institutions through a long and eventful history have mor