To understand these various statements we have first to determine what was the relation between the honour of Bedford and the castle of Bedford. The former had been given by William Rufus to Payne de Beauchamp, and on land which formed part of it Payne built the castle. Payne’s heirs were deprived of their patrimony by Stephen. After the conclusion of the civil war they recovered their lands (Dugdale, _Baronage_, vol. i. p. 223), but not the castle, for in the Pipe Roll of 34 Hen. II (1187–1188) the accounts of the sheriff of Bedfordshire include an item of four pounds and six shillings spent “in the works of the castle of Bedford and of the postern towards the water” (Goddard, _Siege of Bedford_, p. 17, from _Bedfordshire Archæological Transactions_, vol. xii. p. 249), a fact which shews that the castle was then the property of the King. In 1189–1190 Simon de Beauchamp paid into the Treasury one hundred pounds, “to be governor of the castle of Bedford” (Dugdale, _l.c._, from Pipe Roll 2 Ric. I). These words clearly indicate that Simon was to hold the castle not in fee, but as its constable for the Crown. The bargain between him and King Richard may have included some understanding that the constableship was to be hereditary (somewhat as another branch of the Beauchamp family were hereditary constables of Worcester castle and sheriffs of Worcestershire), for Simon was succeeded in it by his son William; it was by entertaining the rebel barons in Bedford castle that William incurred forfeiture in 1215 (R. Wend., vol. iii. p. 299). It is clear that the seisin of Bedford castle was then, and had been for many years past, in the Crown; John would therefore be perfectly within his rights if in 1216 he chose to alienate the castle altogether by granting it to Falkes in fee. But the treaty of Kingston enacted that all men should be reinstated in their rights (as well as their lands) as they had held them when the war between John and the barons began. This definition would apparently entitle William de Beauchamp to claim restitution of the constableship of Bedford castle, if that office had been recognized by Richard and John as hereditary. Beauchamp “came in” to King Henry in August, 1217, and orders were at once given for the restoration of some of his lands (_Close Rolls_, vol. i. p. 319 b); of the rest, including those in Bedfordshire, he was granted restitution early in October (_ib._ pp. 325 b, 326). Falkes, however, was slow to loose his hold upon the honour of Bedford, and further royal letters bidding him give Beauchamp full seisin of it were issued in February, 1222 (_ib._ p. 488 b). Neither in these letters nor in those of 1217 is there any mention of the castle.