Beorma
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Beorma ( , ) is the name most commonly given to the circa 7th century
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
founder or later leader of the settlement now known as the English city of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
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 la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...
, that of
Barton-on-Sea Barton on Sea (often hyphenated as Barton-on-Sea) is a cliff-top village in Hampshire, England with close connections, physical, governmental and commercial, to the inland town, New Milton which is its civil parish to the north. As a settlement, ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'', 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 person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...
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 in some forms 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. I ...
(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 The ''Beormingas'' (; from Old English) were a tribe or clan in Anglo-Saxon England, whose territory possibly formed a '' regio'' or early administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Mercia. The name literally means "Beorma's people" in Old Eng ...
, long before its arrival in what was to become Anglo-Saxon
Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...
; the
ealdorman Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...
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, under ...
) to one of the
Mercian kings The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...
.


Etymology

''Beorma'' variously means, in
Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, "
fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...
", "head of
beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
", "
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...
y" or "
froth Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the r ...
y",Beorma at Etymonline.com
/ref> from which the modern English words
barm Barm 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 liquor. Barm, as a leaven, has ...
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 (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to ...
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. Dodgson J.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 Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
and
Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
, 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 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. Located around , Brewood lies near the River Penk, eight miles north of Wolverhampton cit ...
, 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 Arden is an area located mainly in Warwickshire, England, with parts in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and is traditionally regarded as extending from the River Avon to the River Tame. It was once heavily wooded, giving rise to the name 'F ...
.


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 in some forms 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. I ...
’ (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 Bromford is an industrial and residential area of Birmingham, situated between Ward End, Alum Rock, Hodge Hill, Washwood Heath, Shard End, Stechford, Castle Bromwich and Tyburn. The industrial area is predominantly situated on the north side o ...
,
Little Bromwich Little Bromwich is a small area in Central-East Birmingham, England. It borders with Bordesley Green and Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from ...
,
West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...
,
Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...
, 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 Kings Bromley is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England on the junction of the A515 and the A513 roads. The village lies in Lichfield District, and the council ward of Kings Bromley had a population of 1,651 at the time of the 2001 ...
, 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 Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...
. 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: ''Beornræd'') (?-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, and ...
, 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 ...
and
Burgred Burgred (also Burhred or Burghred) was an Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from 852 to 874. Family Burgred became king of Mercia in 852, and may have been related to his predecessor Beorhtwulf. After Easter in 853, Burgred married Æthelswith, daug ...
.


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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
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 The River Rea (pronounced "ray") is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. It is the river on which Birmingham was founded by the Beorma tribe in the 7th century. Since 2012, TA Media had obtained the rights and access to the ...
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 Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...
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'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
. 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 destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...
High Street, directly opposite Birmingham's
Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...
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>). Complete with state-of-the-art environmental and energy systems, 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 ...
, 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), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
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 , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, broadcaster and Birmingham City Organist George Thalben-Ball 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 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 ''Coronation Street'', ' ...
. ;''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