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YEOMAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 916 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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YEOMAN , a See also:

term of which the various meanings fall into two See also:main divisions, first that of a class of holders of See also:land, and secondly that of a See also:retainer, guard, attendant or subordinate officer or See also:official. The word appears in M.E. as 5eman, 3oman and yeman; it does not appear in O.E. Various explanations of the first See also:part have been suggested, such as See also:jung-See also:mann, See also:young See also:man, and yeme-man, attendant, from yeme, care; but it is generally accepted that the first part is the same word as the Ger. See also:Gau, See also:district, See also:province, and probably occurs in O.E. as Oa in Sis3ri-gea, See also:Surrey, i.e. See also:southern district, and other See also:place-names. Thus in O. Frisian is found gaman, a villager; Bavarian, g¢umann, See also:peasant. " Yeoman " thus meant a countryman, a man of the district, and it is this sense which has survived in the See also:special use of the word for a class of landholders, treated below. For the transition in meaning to a guard of the See also:sovereign's See also:body and to officials of a royal See also:household see YEOMEN OF THE GUARD and See also:VALET. In the See also:British royal household there are, besides the Yeomen of the Guard, a yeoman of the See also:wine and See also:beer cellar, a yeoman of the See also:silver See also:pantry and yeoman See also:state porters. The term also occurs in the See also:title of the first assistant to the See also:Usher of the See also:Black See also:Rod, the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod. In the British See also:navy there are See also:petty See also:officers in See also:charge of the signalling styled " Yeomen of Signals." For the See also:history and See also:present organization of the " See also:yeomanry See also:cavalry " see YEOMANRY and See also:UNITED See also:KINGDOM (§ See also:Army). The extent of the class covered by the word " yeoman " in See also:England has never been very exactly defined.

Not only has the meaning of the word varied from See also:

century to century, but men See also:writing about it at the same See also:time have given to it different interpretations. One of the earliest pictures of a yeoman is that given by See also:Chaucer in the See also:Prologue to the See also:Canterbury Tales. Here, represented as a forester, he follows the See also:esquire as a retainer or dependant. The yeomen of the ages succeeding Chaucer are, however, practically all occupied in cultivating the land, although, doubtless from its younger sons, the class furnished retainers for the See also:great lords, men-at-arms and archers for the See also:wars, and also tradesmen for the towns. See also:Stubbs (See also:Coast. Hist. vol. iii.) refers to them as " a body which in antiquity of See also:possession and purity of extraction was probably See also:superior to the classes that looked down upon it as ignoble," and Medley (Eng. Coast. Hist.) describes the yeomen as in the 15th century representing on the whole " the small freeholders of the feudal See also:manor." See also:Holinshed, in his See also:Chronicle, following See also:Sir T. See also:Smyth (De republics Anglorum), and W. See also:Harrison (Description of England), describes them as having See also:free land See also:worth £6 annually, and in times past 4os., and as not entitled to See also:bear arms, being for the most part farmers to gentlemen, and this description may be accepted as the popular See also:idea of the yeoman in the 16th century. He formed the intermediate class between the gentry and the labourers and artisans, the See also:line of demarcation, however, being not See also:drawn very distinctly. The yeomen were the smaller landholders, and in the 15th century were practically identical with the See also:forty-See also:shilling free-holders who exercised the See also:franchise under the See also:act of 1430.

Occasionally they found their way into See also:

parliament, for in 1446 the sheriffs were forbidden to return valletti (i.e. yeomen) as members, but this See also:prohibition had very little result. Soon, however, the name appears to have included See also:tenant farmers as well as small freeholders. Thus See also:Latimer, in his famous See also:sermon before See also:Edward VI., says: " My See also:father was a yeoman, but had no land of his own"; the See also:bishop represents the yeoman as an exceedingly prosperous See also:person, and the same See also:opinion had been expressed about a century before by Sir See also:John See also:Fortescue in his Governance of England. The decay of the class began with the formation of large See also:sheep farms in the 16th century, but its decline was very slow, and the yeomen furnished many sturdy recruits to the See also:parliamentary party during the See also:Civil See also:War. Their decay was accelerated during the 18th century, when many of them were bought out by the large landowners, while they received another See also:blow when the factory See also:system destroyed the See also:country's domestic See also:industries. Many writers lament the decay of the yeoman in the 18th and 19th centuries, but this is partly accounted for by the fact that they exclude all tenant farmers from the class, which they confine to men cultivating their own land. Thus the See also:wheel has come full circle and the word means to-See also:day much the same as it meant in the See also:early part of the 15th century.

End of Article: YEOMAN

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