yeoman
Sign in to saveAlso known as yeomen
The yeoman social class of medieval and early modern England ranks between the peasantry and the landed gentry. The class was first documented in mid-14th century England, where it included people who cultivated their own land as well as the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household.
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Reeve and Serfs.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Yeomen of the Guard
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~59 min read
Article
38 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- ''Oxford English Dictionary''
- ''Chambers Dictionary of Etymology''
- Medieval meanings
- Household attendant or servant (14th century-present)<span class="anchor" id="Yeo Serv"></span>
- Yeoman service
- Attendant or assistant to an official (ca 14th–17th centuries)
- A chivalric rank
- Yeomanry (14th–15th centuries)
- Yeoman archer (14th–15th centuries)<span class="anchor" id="Yeo Arch"></span>
- Yeoman of the Guard (15th century-present)
- Yeoman Warder (16th century-present)
- English Navy yeoman (to 1485)
- Social stratum of small freeholders
- Up to 1500
- 1500–1600
- Yeoman farmer
- Modern meanings
- The Yeomanry
- United States Navy
- Yeomen in Late Middle/Early Modern English literature
- ''A Gest of Robyn Hode''
- Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''
- General Prologue: The Yeoman
- The Friar's Tale
- The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue
- Shakespeare's ''Henry V''
- Yeomen in 19th century Romanticism
- Sir Walter Scott
- Howard Pyle
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- Edward I
- Hundred Years War
- English Navy
- Other
- External links
The yeoman social class of medieval and early modern England ranks between the peasantry and the landed gentry. The class was first documented in mid-14th century England, where it included people who cultivated their own land as well as the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household.
The 14th century witnessed the rise of the yeoman longbowmen during the Hundred Years' War, and the yeoman outlaws celebrated in the Robin Hood ballads. Yeomen joined the English Navy during the Hundred Years' War as seamen and archers. In the early 15th century, yeoman was the rank of chivalry between page and squire. By the late 17th century, yeoman became a rank in the Royal Navy for the common seamen who were in charge of ship's stores, such as foodstuffs, gunpowder, and sails.