Beowa, Beaw, Beow, Beo or Bedwig is a figure in Anglo-Saxon paganism associated with barley and agriculture. The figure is attested in the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies as they were extended in the age of Alfred, where Beowa is inserted as the son of Scyld and the grandson of Sceafa, in lineages carried back to Adam.[1] Connections have been proposed between the figure of Beowa and the hero Beowulf of the poem of the same name and English folk song figure John Barleycorn.
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Beow is an Old English word for barley. In the Anglo-Saxon genealogies, Beowa is the son or grandson of Sceafa, the Old English word for sheaf. The noun beow has an Old Norse parallel in Bygg, the word for "grain." Related comparisons have been made between the figure of Beow and Byggvir, attested in the Prose Edda as a servant of the god Freyr.[2]
A consensus among scholars is that there is a distinct connection between the mythical figure of Beowa and the legendary Beowulf. As the two characters possess many of the same attributes, it has been suggested that "a god Beowa, whose existence in myth is certain, became confused or blended with Beowulf."[3] It is possible that the scribe who wrote the copy of the epic which comes down to us subscribed to this conflation: at the beginning of the poem, there is a figure "Beowulf Scyldinga" (not the Beowulf of the title) who shares many properties with Beowa. Several modern scholars, such as Seamus Heaney, therefore translate "Beowulf" in this part of the poem as "Beow."[4]
Kathleen Herbert draws a link between Beowa and the figure of John Barleycorn of traditional English folksong. Herbert says that Beowa and Barleycorn are one and the same, noting that the folksong details the suffering, death, and resurrection of Barleycorn, yet also celebrates the "reviving effects of drinking his blood."[5]
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| Preceded by Scyld |
Legendary king of the Angles | Succeeded by Taetwa |