Yeoman (pronounced Yo-man ) refers to a farmer who cultivates his own land, historically a lesser freeholder of England, below the gentry but with political rights. More generally, yeoman can be an indicator of a position or social class, varying over time and place, or a diligent, dependable worker. A yeoman could also be a guard, attendant, or subordinate official. An equivalent in Germany is Freibauer ("freehold farmer"); in this context a yeoman is also similar to the Russian odnodvorets .
A yeoman could be a free man holding a small landed estate, a minor landowner, a small prosperous farmer, especially from the Elizabethan era onwards (16th-17th century), a deputy, assistant, journeyman, or loyal or faithful servant. Work "performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner", especially in situations that involve a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as a yeoman's job. Yeomen became a class of people that gained a reputation for hard toil.
Yeoman also was a rank or position in a noble or royal household, with titles such as Yeoman of the Chamber, Yeoman of the Crown, Yeoman Usher, King's Yeoman, and various others. Most duties were connected with protecting the sovereign and dignitaries as a bodyguard, such as the Yeomen of the Guard, attending the sovereign with various tasks as needed, or duties assigned to his office.
In modern British usage, yeoman may specifically refer to a member of a reserve cavalry unit called a yeomanry (similar to a militia) traditionally raised from respected and moderately wealthy commoners in England and Wales, and today part of the Territorial Army; a member of the Yeomen of the Guard or Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London, or servant in the British Royal Household at Windsor Castle, such as the Yeoman of the Cellar; or a supervisory soldier normally between the ranks of staff sergeant to Warrant Officer Class 1 in the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army, an appointment achieved upon completion of a 14-month technical course and seen as the highest accolade bestowed upon an operator and indeed a Royal Signals soldier.
In the Royal Navy, United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and other maritime or naval services, a yeoman is a rating with usually secretarial, clerical, payroll or other administrative duties. In the Royal Navy, a Yeoman of Signals is a signalling and tactical communications petty officer.
Origins of the term
The expanded forms of yeoman , such as yongeman or yongerman , are possibly of Anglo-Saxon or northwestern Germanic origin and eventually became yeman or yoman in the Middle Ages (with variations such as yoeman , etc.). In the early 14th century, the word developed the more recognisable modern spelling of yeoman . In 1363 the vernacular form of the English language was officially recognised as the national language of the Kingdom of England, and the French term valet (used as the formal language), and the Latin term valectus (used in the courts) were replaced by the term yeoman . The term yeoman , primarily identified as "servant", is noted throughout the Calendar Patent Rolls in the early 1300s.
The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales .
Early Middle Ages
In Germania , Tacitus writes of "young men chosen from every district (pagus), who are swift on foot, and with this swiftness they support the cavalry, fixed in number (100) and from this they take their 'name of honour'". It is not clear what Tacitus means by "name of honor", but he may be referring to "the hundred men". In Anglo-Saxon England the "hundred" became a unit used for raising the fyrd (militia), with its own court and legal status.
In many ways the ancient "yeoman" is very similar to the "yeomanry" today, volunteers of the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom. Yeoman military corps takes origin from the volunteer cavalry in the mid-18th century, later becoming known as the Yeomanry Cavalry in the 1790s.
The term "yeoman" is also used to define a man who follows a chief, or a lord, in ancient times known as gau judices (district chiefs). The term is similar in concept to geneatas , meaning a warrior companion. Heartho-geneatas were hearth warriors, who formed the "comitatus" or warrior retinues of lords. Geneatas is the origin of the more modern term knight. In the Brythonic language the term gweis is similarly used in the same context as a young freeborn person in service. The ancient Brythonic word gweis is very similar to gewi- or gawi- prefixes in Gothic. Both languages are now extinct, though ancient Brythonic language has evolved into modern Welsh and Cornish, while Cumbrian (Northern Welsh) and many other Britonnic dialects are now extinct.
High Middle Ages
Throughout the medieval period the term yeoman was used within the royal and noble households to indicate a servant's rank, degree, position or status. A yeoman during the Middle Ages was commonly used in feudal or private warfare. Yeoman is also believed to come from the word yonge man or iunge man ("young man"), possibly as a freeborn servant ( serviens or sergeant ) ranking between the esquire (shield escort, from scutum ) and page ( pagus , meaning "rustic" and later "young errand boy").
Long before the concept of chivalry and the Crusades were born from the ideas of Christianity, the term "knight" (from cniht ) originally meant "boy." Terms such as radman , radcniht , or radknight ("riding man," "road man," "riding boy," "road boy/page" were used). The difference of terms helped to distinguish the young riding men (yeomen) from the riding boys (pages) who provided a riding or road service. It also indicates a path of career progression within a noble or royal household.
All the fighting classes of men in the Middle Ages from the knighs (in particular knight's bachelors), squires, yeomen, to pages were usually young servants; the degree of importance or status of each changed over time. Many serving men (serviens or sergeants) would usually be promoted to various positions of importance within the king's or lord's household.
The term yongermen is found in text as early as the 12th century, and the term geongramanna is found in Beowulf in a much earlier period (700-800). Serving men of districts, since the days of the Gau polities in Germania, and the stretches of the Germanic peoples throughout Western Europe immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire would most likely be young men, or young men of the district. Yeoman or gauman within the definition of both land and/or service of a young man appeared mostly settled around the border regions or remote country sides of their districts, or kingdoms (both modern and ancient); thus a connection or association with pagus (pages), or rustics to the term yeoman .
Ancient to modern usage
If the term yeoman is associated with land, or degree of land ownership, then it may have its ancient roots in the early Anglo-Saxon rule of England or earlier (thus coming full circle to its most likely etymological roots). In ancient times the land was a strong indicator of social status, and wealth, since the period known as the Dark Ages, and the term yeoman was used in the 16th century to denote the more prosperous, often having a mixture of copyhold, freehold, or leasehold land.
Not all yeomen owned land as many were indentured or feudal servants in a castle. In earlier Anglo Saxon rule, the class of 'geneatas' would most likely be the classification a 'yeoman' in this period as an aristocratic peasantry.
The yeoman would be the connection between royalty and nobility to the peasantry, thus a middling class of sorts in feudal or manorial service to either the king, or a lord. Also possibly identified within a class of libri homini (freemen) within Domesday, the yeoman in service to a king or lord would be known as serviens/sergeants, or valet/valectus during the Norman period. There also men known as 'socmen' or 'sokemen', usually derived from Anglian or Danish sources, equivalent in status as 'radman', thus combining land status and servile status as equals.
Usage as a compliment or praise
This is most likely based upon the historical achievements of winning numerous battles during the Hundred Years' War when the odds and numbers were stacked against the yeoman archers in these conflicts. It also may have been used to denote the excellent or superior service given by a king’s servant performing heroic duties such as preventing an assassination attempt on his life, or protecting his castle or palace (such as we see in the modern day Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London).
The term used in context such as:
- The forester provided ‘yeoman service’ in finding the lost children in the woods.
- The Hubble Telescope has done ‘yeoman service’ or ‘yeoman’s duty’ since it was launched in 1990.
- He made a ‘yeoman’s effort’ to clean the garage.
- The security guard did ‘yeoman’s work’ last night by staying alert and preventing a break-in entry after working very long hours in austere conditions.
The English yeoman
Yeomen were originally a class of British or English landholding (freehold, leasehold and cop
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