In 1546, David Beaton imprisoned the Protestant preacher George Wishart in the castle's Sea Tower, then had him burnt at the stake in front of the castle walls on 1 March.
The son of the Governor of Scotland, James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, and second after his father in line to the crown of Scotland, was already in the castle as Beaton's hostage: now he was the pawn of the Fife lairds.