Top of page Name Summary Distribution Map Property List Profile Bottom of page

Beorn 16

Name

Summary

Beorn 16 was a free man who held a very small manor in south-east Suffolk TRE that he had bought on a life-lease from Ely Abbey and was assessed at 53 acres and with a value of 8s.

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire	Phil. ref.	Vill	DB Spelling	Holder 1066	Lord 1066	Tenant-in-Chief 1086	1086 Subtenant	Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value	Conf.	Show on Map
Shire Suffolk	Phil. ref. 16,3	Vill Little Bealings	DB Spelling Beorus	Holder 1066 Beorn 'of Little Bealings'	Lord 1066 Wulfric, abbot of Ely	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Odo, bishop of Bayeux	1086 Subtenant Roger Bigod	Fiscal Value 0.42	1066 Value 0.40	1086 Value 0.40	Confidence E	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Beorn 16’s tiny manor was at Little Bealings, on a spur between the River Fynn and one of its tributaries in south-east Suffolk.  Although small, his was one of the two largest of at least nine small holdings at Little Bealings TRE, and his was also one of five there that were in the lordship of Ely Abbey.  DB states that Beorn, a free man, had bought the land from the abbot but that it would revert to the abbey after Beorn’s death; in other words, he held it on a life-lease and did not have the power of alienation of his land, which remained in the lordship of Ely Abbey.

The abbey did not regain the land after the Conquest, however.  Instead, it was held by a subtenant of Earl Ralph (Ralph 2) until he forfeited his estates at some point before his death in 1068x70, and the manor was held by a subtenant of Bishop Odo of Bayeux (Odo 3) in 1086.

Beorn 16’s manor was only 3¼ miles to the east of the small TRE manor of Barn 3, and it is conceivable that the DB form Bar for Barn’s name could represent a misspelled form of Beorn 16’s name (spelt Beor’ and Beorn’ in DB and Bern in IE).  Against this possibility, however, are that the men had different TRE lords and different post-Conquest successors and that the name Beorn, although unusual, was not rare.  Despite the proximity of the two estates, therefore, the balance of the evidence is just in favour of regarding Beorn 16 and Barn 3 as different men.