Earliest meaning was probably the "town-crier"; one who went through the streets making announcements
Later, the word meant an assistant to a bailiff or a sheriff, and then an officer executing orders of a magistrate.
Beadles were frequently used by Shakespeare in plays.
Bedells and Bedels are the term for those who appear lead the university dignitaries in academic processions. In modern times, the old English Universities [founded in the 12th Century], spell the titles differently: Oxford uses Bedel and Cambridge uses Bedell.
beadle - current definition [from American Heritage Dictionary, by Houghton Mifflin Company] A minor parish official in an English church whose duties include keeping order and ushering during services.
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