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. Bermuda was granted internal self‐government in 1968 (with the British monarch remaining head of State). Bermuda became a British DEPENDENT TERRITORY in 1983, and an overseas territory in 2002. Approx. population in 1921, 23,000; in 2010, 64,000.
BERNARD OF NEUFMARCHÉ(b. c.1045, probably in Normandy; d. c.1125, aged about 80). A Norman who went to England with WILLIAM I; through marriage he acquired land in Herefordshire (W England, abutting Wales). Bernard invaded C Wales c.1093 and created the Marcher lordship of Brecon, founding also the town of Brecon and St John's Priory, Brecon. See BRYCHEINIOG; NORMANS, IMPACT ON WALES; MARCH OF WALES.BERNARD OF ST DAVIDS(fl. from 1115; d. between 30 June and Dec. 1148). The first Norman bishop of ST DAVIDS, SW Wales, 1115–48; imposed by King HENRY I of England against local wishes. Bernard resisted URBAN OF LLANDAFF's attempt to expand the Llandaff diocese into SW Wales (1127–33); he then sought, unsuccessfully, metropolitan (archiepiscopal) status for St Davids in Wales. See also NATIONAL PATRON SAINTS; CHURCH, MEDIEVAL WALES.BERNERS‐LEE, TIMOTHY
(b. 8 June 1955 at London, England). After studying physics at OXFORD University, Berners‐Lee worked in telecommunications and in the COMPUTING industry as a software designer. In 1980, while briefly at CERN (the European particle physics laboratory), he designed a program to store files that included connections between texts (hyperlinks), and on returning in 1984 developed procedures that allowed computers to communicate with each other.
In 1989 Berners‐Lee proposed an arrangement for enabling information to be accessed through the Internet (the recently created global network of interlinked computer networks), using a standard ‘address’ for sources, and he wrote software for the first ‘web server’ and ‘web browser’ (1990–1). Placed in the public domain by CERN in 1993, the system expanded rapidly into the resource called the ‘World Wide Web’. After leaving CERN (1994), Berners‐Lee remained involved in computing, artificial intelligence and Web development. He was elected a fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY (2001) and knighted (2004).
BERNICIA
A kingdom (6th–7th centuries) which initially occupied modern Co. Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Northumberland (NE England). Bernicia's Brittonic name (of unknown meaning) suggests a British origin (5th or 6th century; see POST‐ROMAN BRITAIN). By the mid 6th century, following moderate Germanic settlement (by ‘Angles'), a Germanic dynasty ruled.
In the 7th century the royal dynasties of Bernicia and DEIRA (to the S) sought to rule both kingdoms. Æthelfrith of Bernicia (ruled 592–616) also ruled Deira from 604. EDWIN of Deira ruled both kingdoms 616–33 (permitted Christianity 619, with short‐lived see at YORK from 627). The kingdoms had separate rulers 633–4 (Eanfrith in Bernicia). OSWALD of Bernicia ruled both kingdoms 634–42 and extended Bernicia northwards (see GODODDIN). (635, Oswald reintroduced Christianity with see at Lindisfarne; see AIDAN.) OSWIU, ruled 642–70, overcame resistance in Deira. His successor, EGFRITH, annexed Deira (679), creating NORTHUMBRIA. See also KINGSHIP, ANGLO‐SAXON.
BERWICK, (1560) TREATY OFAgreed on 27 Feb. 1560 (at BERWICK‐UPON‐TWEED, adjacent to NE England), between Scotland's pro‐Protestant LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION and English representatives (following the deposition of the Catholic MARY OF GUISE, regent for MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS). The treaty permitted English intervention against French troops in Scotland while guaranteeing Scotland's independence. Religion was not mentioned. See also EDINBURGH, (1560) TREATY OF; REFORMATION, SCOTLAND.BERWICK, (1639) TREATY OFSigned on 18 June 1639 (at BERWICK‐UPON‐TWEED, adjacent to NE England), between King CHARLES I and leaders of Scottish COVENANTERS. It ended the First Bishops' War. Scots would disband; Charles would withdraw his army and attend a General Assembly of the Church of SCOTLAND and a meeting of the Scottish Parliament. His failure to do so provoked the Second Bishops' War. See also COVENANT, WARS OF THE, OR BISHOPS’ WARS; COVENANTING REVOLUTION.BERWICK‐UPON‐TWEED
(English, meaning ‘Barley farm on R. Tweed'). A coastal town in Northumberland, NE England, on the N bank of the R. Tweed; the chief town on the eastern Anglo‐Scottish BORDER.
Made a BURGH and head of a SHERIFFDOM by King DAVID I (ruled 1124–53), Berwick was until 1296 Scotland's leading international port. It was captured by King EDWARD I of England in 1296; retaken by ROBERT I of Scotland in 1318; captured by EDWARD III of England in 1333 and held until 1461 (ceded by HENRY VI). The English recaptured it in 1482. Berwick was given independent status in 1551, but remained an English garrison town (refortified 1558–69) and was incorporated into England in 1844. Since 1296 it has been mainly a market town.
Est. popn: 1300, 2000; 1600, 1800; 1800, 7000; 1900, 13,400; 2000, 12,800.
BESANT, ANNIE(b. 1 Oct. 1847 at London, England; d. 20 Sept. 1933 at Adyar, Madras Province, India, aged 85). In 1873, after becoming a freethinker, Besant left her clergyman husband and rural home. She moved to London where she collaborated with the atheist Charles BRADLAUGH (1875–86), became a public speaker, and earned notoriety for advocating contraception (see BIRTH CONTROL). A member of the FABIAN SOCIETY, in 1886–8 she helped to unionize unskilled workers (so‐called ‘New Unionism’ movement). From 1889 Besant was involved in the syncretic mysticism of theosophy. In India from 1893, she promoted education, and from 1909 campaigned for Indian independence. She joined the Indian National Congress in 1913 and presided at its national meeting in 1917. See also THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.BEUNO(fl. in 7th century; d. perhaps in 642). The founder and abbot of a monastery at Clynnog, GWYNEDD (NW Wales); dedicatee of other churches in N Wales. Beuno was later regarded as a saint. His life was written in Welsh in the 14th century. See also MONASTICISM, MEDIEVAL WALES.BEVAN, BRIDGET(b. probably Oct. 1698 at Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales; d. 11 Dec. 1779 at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, aged 81). Of GENTRY stock (born Bridget Vaughan, married 1721), ‘Madam Bevan' was chief patron and adviser of Griffith JONES who launched ‘circulating schools' in the 1730s. She continued them after his death in 1761 and bequeathed £10,000 to perpetuate them. Unfortunately, her will was disputed and, starved of funds, the schools withered. See also EDUCATION, WALES.BEVAN, NYE(b. 15 Nov. 1897 at Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales; d. 6 July 1960 at Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, aged 62). A coalminer, Aneurin Bevan (known as ‘Nye’) became a trade union official and a Labour MP (1929). Famed for radical oratory, he established the British NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE while minister of health (1945–51) in the post‐war government of Clement ATTLEE. Transferred to the Ministry of Labour
