View source for Beadsman

{{short description|People employed to make special prayers in Medieval Britain}}
{{For|the racehorse|Beadsman (horse)}}
[[File:Norbury, Derbyshire - bedesman.jpg|A bedesman carved on the tomb of [[Ralph Fitzherbert]]<ref name=camm>{{Cite book | last = Camm | first = Bede | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=anpVguz_mlMC&pg=PA14 | title = Forgotten Shrines | author-link = Bede Camm | year = 2004 | publisher = Gracewing | isbn = 0-85244-615-2 | page = 16 | accessdate = 24 November 2010}}.</ref> who died in 1483|right|thumb]]
'''Bedesman''', or '''beadsman''' ([[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|bede}}, {{gloss|prayer}}, from the [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|biddan}}, {{gloss|to pray}}; {{lit|a man of prayer}}; and from the Anglo-Saxon {{lang|ang|bed}}), was generally a [[pensioner]] or [[almsman]] whose duty was to [[prayer|pray]] for his benefactor.
==Function==
A beadsman (or beadswoman) in [[Medieval times]] occupied their position as attached to the crown and churches in [[Medieval Scotland|Scotland]] and [[Medieval England|England]]. In general, the task was to pray for souls listed on a bede-roll represented by small items on a string called 'bedes' (i.e. "prayers"). Souls who wished to be prayed for, secured their listing by giving alms, donations, or gifts.<ref name=CathDict/> if a departed soul was a member of a guild the [[chaplain]] would add them to the roll for prayer post-mortem. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the use of little perforated globes of bone, wood, or amber, threaded on a string, came into fashion for the purpose of counting the repetitions of the [[Our Father]] or [[Hail Mary]]. These objects themselves became known as 'bedes', later becoming known as 'beads'.<ref name=CathDict>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02383b.htm Bede]</ref>
==Bedehouse==
{{main|Almshouse}}
Beadsmen were sometimes accommodated in a Bedehouse (an alms-house), some of which have survived into modern times. These are generally considered to be buildings of special interest and many are often [[Listed building|listed]] in The National Heritage List for England.<ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/ The National Heritage List for England.]</ref>
==Royal arrangement==
In [[Scotland]], there were public almsmen which were supported by the king who were expected to pray for his welfare and that of the state in return. These men wore long blue gowns with a [[pewter]] badge on the right arm, and were nicknamed '''Blue Gowns'''. Their number corresponded to the king's years, an extra one being added each royal birthday. They were privileged to ask alms throughout Scotland.<ref>Chambers, Robert (1885). ''Domestic Annals of Scotland''.  Edinburgh : Chambers. p.401.</ref> On the king's birthday, each bedesman received a new blue gown, a loaf, a bottle of ale, and a leathern purse containing a penny for every year of the king's life.  On the pewter badge which they wore were their name and the words "pass and repass," which authorised them to ask alms.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Bedesman |volume=3 | page =616 }}</ref> No more Blue Gown bedesmen were appointed after 1833, and the last recorded payment under these arrangements was made in 1863.<ref name="EB1911" />
==England==
In consequence of its use in this general sense of pensioner, "bedesman" was long used in English as equivalent to "servant." The word had a special sense as the name for those almsmen attached to [[cathedral]]s and other [[church (building)|church]]es, whose duty it was to pray for the souls of deceased benefactors. A relic of pre-Reformation times, these old men still figure in the accounts of English cathedrals.<ref name ="EB1911" />
St Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire traditionally appoints four Choral Bedesmen, whose role is to sing the daily services. The posts attracted a nominal stipend until early in the 21st century. The Bedesmen have included female choristers since 2015 and currently (2023) include a singer for each part.
==Elsewhere==
In a somewhat similar practice in Spain (roughly 14th century onwards), there were blind people hired to sing prayers for customers. Some customers were regulars, others hired these singers only from time to time.<ref>Gomis, Juan. "Pious voices: Blind Spanish prayer singers." ''Renaissance Studies'' 33.1 (2019): 42-63.</ref> Bedesmen existed in Scotland until the late 1990s.<ref>McAleese, R. 2017. 'Life in the Day of a Bedesman', Scottish Local History Journal, 97: 29-38.</ref> The last beadsman in [[Aberdeen, Scotland|Aberdeen]] died in 1988.<ref>McAleese, R. 2017. 'Life in the Day of a Bedesman', Scottish Local History Journal, 97: 29-38.</ref>
==See also==
*[[Bede]]
*[[Bede (disambiguation)]]
*[[Bede House, Old Aberdeen]]
*[[Hospitals in medieval Scotland]]
*[[Lyddington Bede House]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Retirement]]
[[Category:Christian prayer]]
[[Category:Christian religious occupations]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in England]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in Scotland]]