Beorn 12

Beorn ‘of Linton’ (Yorks.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Beorn
Beorn 13

Summary

Beorn 12 shared with others two estates in the West Riding of Yorkshire TRE; if these were divided evenly between the holders then his shares amounted to just under 2 carucates with a value of 12½s.

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
Yorkshire 13W35 Linton Ber Beorn 'of Linton' - William de Percy Everard 'of Leathley' 1.42 0.50 0.33 C Map
Yorkshire 1W53 Castley Berne Beorn 'of Linton' - William de Percy Everard 'of Leathley' 0.50 0.13 0.02 D Map
Totals

Profile

A man whose name DB spells Ber was one of six TRE holders of 8½ carucates at Linton, on a hill above the River Wharfe in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and which were held by Everard from William de Percy (William 19) in 1086.  Further up the Wharfe and less than 8 miles west of Linton is Castley, where a man whose name DB spells Berne held with Ælflæd a carucate of land that in 1086 was cultivated by Everard ‘the man of William de Percy’, although William did not acknowledge this.  The forms Ber and Berne could represent the Old Norse names Biorr and Biarni respectively, neither of which otherwise occurs in DB, but both could also represent ON Biorn or Old English Beorn (von Feilitzen 1937: 200-2; Fellows Jensen 1968: 54-5).  The name Beorn (under which head-form Biorn is subsumed here) was unusual, and the close proximity of the two estates and their apparent passing to the same post-Conquest successor render it more likely that both estates were held TRE by the same man, Beorn 12, than that they were held by different people with similar but (in DB terms) unique names.

If so, and if the assessments and values of both estates were divided equally among the TRE holders, then Beorn 12’s shares will have amounted to just under 2 carucates and a value of 12½s.  It is not possible on present evidence to determine the nature of his relationship to any of his co-holders.

It is just possible that Beorn 12 was the same man as Barn 2, who held an estate only 20 miles from Linton, because as well as the relative proximity there is also the potential for confusion between the DB forms of their respective personal names, it being conceivable that the DB form Bar of Barn 2’s name could be a misspelled form for Ber.  Nevertheless, it remains more likely than not that they were different men because Barn’s estates passed to a different post-Conquest successor.

Bibliography


von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

Fellows Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)