What does the name Burgess mean historically?

Answer 1

The modern surname Burgess derives from a Norman French word that was spelled variously as burgeis, burgeois, borgois, bourges, borges (and many other variants). It signified "a citizen or townsman" and could mean a tenant holding property - but it always meant someone of peasant status, not a nobleman.

A burgess was often a merchant, a skilled craftsman, a wealthy tradesman or someone of similar status, holding a reasonable house with perhaps a shop or workshop attached. Many of these men were more wealthy than many knights. A burgess in Anglo-Norman England was a freeman who was required to provide 40 days of military service each year.

By the Assize of Arms of 1181, all such men were required by law to have a helmet and spear, plus (according to their income) either a padded linen gambeson or a mail coat (hauberk). Jews, who were almost all of the burgess class, were excluded from owning any weapons or armour.