The principle that clergy should be tried in Church courts. It was conceded in England for some felonies by King HENRY II in 1176, following the murder of Thomas BECKET (1170), but remained contentious. By the mid 14th century, clergy were commonly transferred from royal to Church courts if found guilty in the former, enabling them to be acquitted or convicted with a lesser punishment in the latter. By 1400 reading was used as a test of clerical status, enabling laity to claim it.
The benefit was removed for murder and theft from churches in 1532 by the REFORMATION PARLIAMENT. Burglary and rape were excluded in 1566. The benefit was largely abolished in 1827. See also CHURCH, MEDIEVAL ENGLAND.
BENN, TONY
(b. 3 April 1925 at London, England; d. 14 March 2014 at London, aged 88). A Labour MP from 1950 and heir to a viscountcy (and membership of the UK House of Lords), Benn sought to renounce his succession. On becoming (2nd) Viscount Stansgate (1960), he was barred from the House of Commons (ban maintained after re‐election in by‐election, 1961). He succeeded in obtaining the Peerage Act (1963), under which he disclaimed his peerage. He was re‐elected as an MP (held seats 1963–83, 1984–2005).
Benn held British government offices under Harold WILSON (1964–70, 1974–6) and James CALLAGHAN (1976–9). As the controversial champion of Labour’s left wing, he sought to become deputy leader of the Party in 1981, but lost narrowly to Denis HEALEY. See also PEERAGE, DISCLAIMING OF.
BENSON, E.W.(b. 14 July 1829 at Birmingham, Warwickshire, England; d. 11 Oct. 1896 at Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales, aged 67). A Church of England clergyman, Edward White Benson was the first master of Wellington College (1858–72), a school which commemorated the duke of WELLINGTON. In 1877 he became bishop of the new diocese of Truro (for Cornwall, SW England). As archbishop of CANTERBURY from 1883, he encouraged overseas missions and the creation of new Anglican churches. In 1889 Benson revived the archbishop’s court to consider an accusation of RITUALISM against Bishop Edward King of Lincoln. His judgment (1890) generally supported King. He died while visiting W.E. GLADSTONE. See also ANGLICAN COMMUNION.BENTHAM, JEREMY(b. 4 Feb. 1748 at London, England; d. 6 June 1832 at Westminster, Middlesex, England, aged 84). After attending OXFORD University (1760–3) and studying law, Bentham published critical works about government, law, economics and education (from 1776). He sought to establish fundamental principles. His most influential work, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), propounded UTILITARIANISM: that human actions should be judged by their effect on society’s general happiness. He particularly influenced the PHILOSOPHIC RADICALS.BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM
(b. 14 Sept. 1774 at Piccadilly, Middlesex, England; d. 17 June 1839 at Paris, France, aged 64). A son of the 3rd duke of PORTLAND, and a WHIG, Bentinck joined the British Army in 1791. He served as governor of Madras (now Chennai), SE India (1803–7), when he was blamed for the anti‐British ‘Vellore Mutiny’ (July 1806), and as an envoy in Sicily (1811–15).
As governor‐general of INDIA from 1828, Bentinck made economies in expenditure, revenue reforms in NW India, and increased the employment of natives in official positions. He extended Anglicization by instituting English in higher courts and government business, and prohibited suttee (burning of widows). He retired in 1835 and became an MP.
BEOWULFThe longest heroic poem in Old English. Its time of composition is uncertain; suggestions range from the 8th to early 11th century. It survives in a single 11th‐century manuscript. Though written in Anglo‐Saxon England, its story is set in pre‐Christian Denmark and Sweden. It displays the working of Germanic kingship, expressed through gift giving, feasting and feud. See also KINGSHIP, ANGLO‐SAXON.BERESFORD, JOHN
(b. 14 March 1738 at Dublin, Ireland; d. 5 Nov. 1805 at Walworth, Co. Londonderry, Ireland, aged 67). A member of the Irish House of Commons from 1760, Beresford was appointed a commissioner of revenue in 1770, during the reorganization of government patronage instigated by Viscount TOWNSHEND. As chief commissioner, from 1780, he commissioned James Gandon to design Dublin's new Custom House.
After William PITT the Younger became prime minister of Great Britain (Dec. 1783), he recruited Beresford as an adviser on Irish affairs (with John FITZGIBBON and John FOSTER). Beresford supported Pitt's decision to unite Ireland with Britain, but opposed Catholic Emancipation. After the union he sat in the UK House of Commons. See also PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY; UNION OF IRELAND AND GREAT BRITAIN.
BERFEDDWLAD, Y
(Welsh, meaning ‘The middle country'). A region in N WALES, between the Rivers Conwy and Dee, which was contested by Normans (later English) and Welsh; called ‘The Four Cantrefs' in English.
It comprised the CANTREFS of Rhos, Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd, and Tegeingl (English, Englefield). It was alternatively known in Welsh as Gwynedd‐is‐Conwy, i.e., ‘GWYNEDD below [east of] the Conwy', as distinct from Gwynedd proper, or Gwynedd‐uwch‐Conwy (‘Gwynedd above the Conwy').
In the early Middle Ages (6th–9th centuries) the cantrefs were not combined; Rhos and Rhufoniog, at least, had independent rulers. In the 9th century, they fell to Gwynedd, though English settled in Tegeingl by the late 10th century. Y Berfeddwlad came under early Norman pressure, from c.1070 (see ROBERT OF RHUDDLAN). In the 12th and 13th centuries it moved between English and Welsh control, according to the fortunes of the rulers of Gwynedd.
BERLIN, CONGRESS OFA meeting of leaders of European Great Powers in Berlin, Germany, from 13 June to 13 July 1878, held to negotiate revision of the treaty of SAN STEFANO. It was called following protests by Great Britain and Austria. The vigorous diplomacy of the earl of Beaconsfield (Benjamin DISRAELI) helped to restore territory to the OTTOMAN EMPIRE and check the advance of Russian influence in the BALKANS.BERLIN AIRLIFT
An operation by Western powers (USA, Great Britain, France), during the COLD WAR, to sustain part of Berlin. In 1945, following WORLD WAR II, both Germany and Berlin were divided into four zones, occupied by the USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR. Berlin lay within the USSR’s German zone; its western zones (population, 2 million) were sustained by a railway and motorway from the W.
On 24 June 1948, three days after the Western powers announced the introduction of a new currency to Berlin, the USSR, ruled by Josef Stalin, stopped road and rail traffic to its western zones. Stalin intended to force the Western powers from Berlin or possibly to disrupt their economic revival of western Germany. They responded with a continuous cargo airlift of food and other supplies, supported by other countries. In the face of Western determination, the USSR lifted its blockade on 12 May 1949, and the airlift ended on 30 Sept. Flights totalled over 277,000, carrying 1.6 million tons.
BERMUDA
A British overseas territory in the NW Atlantic, consisting of 130 coral islands, 20 of which are inhabited. Settlement began after an English ship, sailing to VIRGINIA, was shipwrecked in 1609. Men remained behind to preserve a claim. The islands were initially known as the Somers Islands after the shipwrecked admiral Sir George Somers (1554–1610). They were governed 1612–14 by the VIRGINIA COMPANY (London group), and from 1615 by the Somers Islands Company. They were soon known as ‘Bermuda’ after an earlier Spanish discoverer. An assembly met from 1620. After a rebellion in 1684, Bermuda became a CROWN COLONY. African slaves were brought to work on PLANTATIONS from 1616.
During the 20th century, tourism, banking and insurance became mainstays of the economy.