Beornstan (or Byrnstan) was an English Bishop of Winchester. He was consecrated in May 931. He died on 1 November 934.^[1] After his death, he was revered as a saint.

At the start of the reign of King Æthelstan in 924, Beornstan was a member of his household, one of his mass priests, who were probably responsible for looking after his relics. Early in Æthelstan's reign, Beornstan witnessed his manumission of a slave called Ealdred. Æthelstan followed a policy of appointing members of his own circle to vacant bishoprics in Wessex. Winchester was a centre of opposition to the king under its bishop, Frithestan, and when he resigned in 931 Æthelstan took the chance to appoint Beornstan to the position. He frequently attested the king's charters, though in a lower position than his successor, Ælfheah.^[2]

Beornstan died at Old Minster, Winchester, where he was probably buried. He was remembered for his humility, but his cult as a saint was said to have been due to the support of a later bishop of Winchester, Æthelwold, to whom he is supposed to have angrily complained that in heaven he was honoured equally with Birinus and Swithun, but he was neglected in Winchester. His cult never became popular.^[3]

• Foot, Sarah (2011). Æthelstan: the first king of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12535-1.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
• Yorke, Barbara (2004). "Byrnstan (St Byrnstan) (d. 934), bishop of Winchester". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4277. Retrieved 13 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

• Beornstan 5 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

v t e Bishops of Winchester
Early Medieval 634–1006	Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester Agilbert, Bishop of Dorchester Wine Leuthere Hædde Daniel Hunfrith Cyneheard Æthelheard Ecgbald Dudd Cyneberht Ealhmund Wigthegn Herefrith (disputed) Eadmund (disputed) Eadhun Helmstan Swithun Ealhferth Tunbeorht Denewulf Frithestan Beornstan/Byrnstan Ælfheah I Ælfsige I Beorhthelm Æthelwold I Ælfheah II	Arms of the Bishop of Winchester
High Medieval 1006–1304	Cenwulf Æthelwold II Ælfsige II Ælfwine Stigand Walkelin William Giffard Henry of Blois Richard of Ilchester Godfrey de Luci Richard Poore Peter des Roches Ralph Neville William de Raley Aymer de Valence Andrew of London William de Taunton John Gervais Nicholas of Ely Robert Burnell Richard de la More John of Pontoise
Late Medieval 1305–1501	Henry Woodlock John Sandale Rigaud of Assier John de Stratford Adam Orleton William Edington William of Wykeham Henry Beaufort William Waynflete Peter Courtenay Thomas Langton
Early Modern 1501–1820	Richard Foxe Thomas Wolsey Stephen Gardiner John Ponet Stephen Gardiner John White Robert Horne John Watson Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Day Thomas Bilson James Montague Lancelot Andrewes Richard Neile Walter Curle Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Brian Duppa George Morley Peter Mews Jonathan Trelawny Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly John Thomas Brownlow North
Late Modern 1820–current	George Pretyman Tomline Charles Sumner Samuel Wilberforce Harold Browne Anthony Thorold Randall Davidson Herbert Ryle Edward Talbot Theodore Woods Cyril Garbett Mervyn Haigh Alwyn Williams Falkner Allison John Taylor Colin James Michael Scott-Joynt Tim Dakin Philip Mounstephen