By his exceptional abilities, he attracted the notice the Scottish king, James II, who sent him on errands to England and to France, where he negotiated several treaties.
[1] Much of his time, however, was passed in journeys to France and to England, and in 1464 he and Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany, a son of James II, were captured at sea by some English sailors.
Edward IV, to whom the bishop had previously revealed an assassination plot, set him at liberty, and he was perhaps partly responsible for the treaty of peace made about this time between the English king and James III.
[1] He also helped to bring about the meeting between Edward IV and Louis XI of France at Picquigny, and another treaty of peace between England and Scotland in 1474.
[2] He died in Edinburgh on 15 April 1480 and was buried in the north aisle of Trinity College Kirk close to the hospital which he founded.