BEADSMAN or BEDESMAN, a pensioner whose duty it was to pray for his benefactor (M.E. betk, prayer). In Scotland there were public almsmen supported by the king and expected in return to pray for his welfare. They 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. On the king's birthday each beadsman 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 were their name and the words "pass and repass," which authorized them to ask alms throughout Scotland. The word had a special sense as the name for those almsmen attached to cathedral and other churches, whose duty it was to pray for the souls of deceased benefactors.