Beorma
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Beorma ( , ) is the name most commonly given to the circa 7th century
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
founder or later leader of the settlement now known as the English city of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
before its first mention in 1086. At its Saxon founding the forerunner settlement was known by an unknown name or as it in Norman times came to be recorded in an established two-part form "Beorma's ham" ("homestead of...") or "Beorma-inga-ham" ("homestead of the tribe/people of/related to..."). If Beorma, or similar, is probably a relevant personal name as the majority of Anglo-Saxon historians publishing on the subject claim, it has one other known exponent, a different Anglo-Saxon figure who owned another farmstead across the far side of
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
, that of Barton-on-Sea,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
which appears twice in the ''
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
'', as ''Bermintune'' and as ''Burmintune'', directly cognate to the entry for Birmingham. The meaning and linguistic proximity of 'beorn', prince, coupled with the usually personal suffix -ing so correlated by following well-known names in most cases, underpins the leading theory that both places had an
eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
human leader. However few records of such princely names containing the 'm' sound supports a counter-theory of word origin. It points to relative proximity to forests/heath clearings of multi-pointed shrubs,
broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...
(and relatives gorse), as the origin in both cases.Barton-on-Sea History


Identity

As the person after whom Birmingham was named, there are three possible answers to the question of exactly who Beorma was. Beorma could have been the founder or ancestor of a tribe, the beormingas, long before its arrival in what was to become Anglo-Saxon
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
; the
ealdorman Ealdorman ( , )"ealdorman"
''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government ...
or head of a tribe or clan of kinsmen who travelled together for the purpose of migration (and who settled in Mercia); or the leader of a (possibly mercenary) group with whom he shared a contractual obligation (the
frankpledge Frankpledge was a system of joint suretyship common in England throughout the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages. The essential characteristic was the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected in tithings. This unit, un ...
) to one of the Mercian kings.


Etymology

''Beorma'' variously means, in
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
, "
fermented Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic compound, Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are Catabo ...
", "head of
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
", "
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
y" or "
froth Foams are two-phase material systems where a gas is dispersed in a second, non-gaseous material, specifically, in which gas cells are enclosed by a distinct liquid or solid material. Note, this source focuses only on liquid foams. Note, thi ...
y",Beorma at Etymonline.com
/ref> from which the modern English words
barm Barm, also called ale yeast, is the foam or scum formed on the top of a fermenting liquid, such as beer, wine, or feedstock for spirits or industrial ethanol distillation. It is used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liqu ...
and barmy are derived.Barm at Reference.com
/ref> The assertion that Beorma was the founder of Birmingham arose from a post-war challenge to the way Anglo-Saxon place-names had been constructed. It was not until 1940 that
Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...
noted that: ''"Birmingham probably meant 'the Hamm of Beornmund’s people' (OE Beornmund-ingaham). Or the direct base may be a pet-form Beorma from Beornmund"''.''Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names'', ed. E. K. Ekwall (3rd edition, with revisions 1951) Ekwall's view was built on by J.M. DodgsonJ.M. Dodgson ''The significance of the distribution of the English placenames in "-ingas", "-inga" in south-east England'', Medieval Archaeology 10 (1966) who went on to suggest that ''–ingaham'' settlements like Birmingham and Nottingham were signs of earlier settlement than ''–ing'' settlements like
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
and
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
, reinforcing the idea that Birmingham itself was preceded by a tribal territory occupied by the Beormingas. According to
Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
Tom Shippey, ''Roots and Branches – Selected Papers on Tolkien'', Walking Tree Publishers, 2007 J.R.R. Tolkien went on to use the character of Beorn in
The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...
to evoke links between elfland and the counties surrounding Birmingham.


Alternative names

As no records of the place-name exist from the Anglo-Saxon period, only the entry for ''Bermingham'' in the Domesday Book of 1086 Beorma is the most often imputed form of the name of the founder of Birmingham. A number of alternative names have been put forward (including Bearm, Berm, Beor, Bearma, Beorm and Breme), based on the fact that the city's name has been spelled in many different ways throughout its history. Just as the other names have been put forward for the founder of Birmingham, this name may share its origins with similar Anglo-Saxon place names-- Barton, Bearwood, Berwood, Bordesley,
Brewood Brewood is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Brewood lies near the River Penk, north of Wolverhampton and south of Stafford. Brewoo ...
, and Burcot—all found within the environs of Birmingham. The high incidence of these place names has been used to suggest that Beorma's tribe, the beormingas, settled across the wider woodland area which formed the northern part of the
Forest of Arden The Forest of Arden is a territory and cultural reference point in the English West Midlands, that in antiquity and into the Early Modern Period covered much of that district: 'This great forest once extended across a wide band of Middle Engl ...
.


Breme or Brom

The second most common name associated with the origin of Birmingham is Breme or Brom, which could be a given name, but whose meaning is derived from the spiky shrub ‘
broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...
’ (which was commonly found in the woodland clearings of the Forest of Arden) rather than with a given name. Birmingham has also been known as Bromwycham,William Hutton
Project Gutenberg's An History of Birmingham (1783)
/ref> and nearby towns with a similar etymology include Bromford, Little Bromwich,
West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...
,
Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...
, Broomhill and several Bromleys scattered across Staffordshire and Warwickshire. By the 14th century there were so many English place-names prefixed by Brom- that differentiating names (such as
Abbots Bromley Abbots Bromley is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire and lies approximately east of Stafford, England. According to the University of Nottingham English Place-names project, the settlement name Abbots ...
, originally referred to as ''Bromleage'' in 1002 and Kings Bromley, originally known as ''Brom Legge'') were adopted.


Beorma and the B-Line

If Beorma is a diminutive of Beornmund (Beorn = 'prince'; Mund = 'hand') then the name would mean either "Princely protector" or "the Prince's hand".Ekwall, E. (1940) ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names''; 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 43 This interpretation would suggest that Beorma was a royal name, or else the name of a king's
thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...
. A royal connection for the founder of an early tribe whose territory is adjacent to that of the founders of Mercia draws attention to its similarity between the names Beornmund or Beorma and those of the alleged B-line of Mercian kings noted by Dr. Barbara YorkeDr. Barbara Yorke (''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England'' (B.A. Seaby Ltd, 1990), p. 119) that included
Beornred Beornred (Old English: ''Beornrǣd'') (? – 757) was a Mercian Thane who was briefly King of Mercia in 757. Beornred ascended the throne following the murder of King Æthelbald. However, he was defeated by Offa and forced to flee the country, ...
, Beornwulf,
Beorhtwulf Beorhtwulf (, meaning "bright wolf"; also spelled ''Berhtwulf''; died 852) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected to Beornwulf, who ruled Mercia in ...
and Burgred.


Beorma in recent times

The name ''Beorma'' has been used to establish and promote links with the city of Birmingham on a number of occasions, evolving from an academic assumption about an etymological source into an established character, albeit mythical, which has come to symbolise Birmingham's Anglo-Saxon foundation.


Arch of the Beorma Tribe

In 2002 Birmingham's
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
history was commemorated by the placement of a set of ornate rolled steel memorial arches in Gooch Street on a bridge over the River Rea in the suburb of Highgate by artist Steve Field,Archway home to Brum roots
/ref>C.P. Belcher Ltd
which reflect upon the foundation of the city and on modern Highgate's local identity. The memorial says "near this river crossing an Anglian tribe led by Beorma founded Birmingham".


Beowulf Brewery

A micro-brewery founded in the city's Yardley suburb in 1996 (and relocated to Chasewater in 2003), the Beowulf Brewing Company established a series of Anglo-Saxon brands for its beers, most of which had thematic links to the legend of
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
. One of these beers, a pale session bitter, was instead named after Beorma to commemorate the city in which the brewery was founded.


Beorma Quarter

The "Beorma Quarter" is planned for construction from 2010 onwards, as a multimillion-pound 30-storey city-within-a-city development on a site at the end of
Digbeth Digbeth is an area of central Birmingham, England. Following the remodelling of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is under ...
High Street, directly opposite Birmingham's
Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...
building (it will occupy the site of the city's last seven
burgage Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...
plotse-architect
/ref>). The final development is likely to consist of a
Marriott Hotel Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 h ...
, apartments, green spaces, a niche shopping centre, a public space originally intended to house Birmingham's historic
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
memorial, and two refurbished cold storage buildings which will be redeveloped as creative industries business incubation and innovation hubs.


Literary, artistic and musical works

;''Toccata Beorma'' In 1972, following the receipt of his honorary doctorate from the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
, broadcaster and Birmingham City Organist
George Thalben-Ball Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball (18 June 1896 – 18 January 1987) was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England. Early life George Thomas Ball (he later took the additional name of "Thalben") was born in Sydn ...
wrote 'Toccata Beorma' as a celebration of his links with the city. ;''Tribe of Beorma'' In 2000 the ''Women & Theatre'' company embarked on a national tour to celebrate the millennium by performing a new musical play, ''Tribe of Beorma'', by
Janice Connolly Janice Connolly (born 7 August 1953) is an English actress, comedian and artistic director. She runs the Birmingham-based group Women and Theatre and performs stand-up comedy as her character Mrs Barbara Nice. Connolly has also appeared in ''Co ...
. ;''What is Missing from your Life? The Men'' On 5 March 2007 Radio 4's ''Afternoon Play'' by Stephanie Dale recounted the fictional story of Beorma, interweaving it with true stories of men who lived and worked in Birmingham.BBC Radio 4 Programmes
/ref>


References

{{Given name City founders History of Birmingham, West Midlands Mercian people Anglo-Saxon thegns Legendary English people