Beowa, Beaw, Bēow [beːow], Beo or Bedwig is a figure in Anglo-Saxon traditional religion 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.
- ^ Kathleen Herbert, Looking for the Lost Gods of England, 1994:15, noted by John Grigsby, Beowulf & Grendel2005:64.