William (III) de Beauchamp

In 1249 he was excommunicated by Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, but was later absolved, in the presence of the king, on St. Edmund's Day, 1251.

[3] The Beauchamps used the hereditary position of Sheriff to extract money from residents and the church to an exceptional degree, while failing to pay taxes collected to the Crown.

[4] He used powers of assize to harass free tenants in the Doddingtree hundred, who agreed to pay a large annual fine to stop this activity.

[5] By the end of his life, de Beauchamp had agreed to pay the Crown £10 a year to clear the debts from unpaid revenues and farms.

[3] Historian Emma Mason regards it as remarkable that the de Beauchamp family's abuses were tolerated by the Crown, and that the hereditary nature of Worcestershire's Sherriffs was not abolished as it had been elsewhere.