Beadsman

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").

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.

The word had a special sense as the name for those almsmen attached to cathedrals and other churches, whose duty it was to pray for the souls of deceased benefactors.

[5] St Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire traditionally appoints four Choral Bedesmen, whose role is to sing the daily services.

In a somewhat similar practice in Spain (roughly 14th century onwards), there were blind people hired to sing prayers for customers.