What did a yeomen do in the middle ages?

Answer 1

A yeoman could be an attendant or officer in a royal or noble household. He could also be a person attending or assisting another. A retainer or yeoman of the guard. A navel petty officer who performs clerical duties. He can also be a small farmer who took care of his own land and may be a class of English freeholders below the gentry.

Answer 2

From the start of the middle ages the English ag worker status was fixed into three classes. A few free Norman tenants paid rent and military service for their farms. "Bondsmen" were serfs ( slaves) to the "Lord" (landlord) of their manors. About half of the population were Anglo-Saxon "villeins" tied by birth to manor properties. Villeins civil rights gradually grew and the yeoman farmer status grew among them. Half of the population of England died during the Black Death leaving about 3 million people alive. This meant labor shortages so wages went up and often the price of labor is freedom. There was also at lot real estate open for freemen to purchase with making more money. By 1381 the new middle class decided it was time for social change. A generation of yeoman prosperity prompted legislation to control "outrageous and excessive apparel of many people contrary to their estate and degree". In 1383 personal property that yeoman and their families could own was restricted and the value of their clothing was limited. No silver, gold or jewels. They were forbidden to wear ribbon, embroidered clothing, silk clothing and any garment of imported cloth. In the 1500's these laws were phased out.

The yeoman farmer was a freeholder of land that generated a minimum 40 shillings (2,000) annual income. This entitled him to serve on juries and vote for county representatives in Parliament. Yeoman qualified for any function that required a "good and lawful man". Later, the yeoman status became unnecessary and was considered a title of courtesy.