0 in the past, a man who was not a servant and who owned and cultivated (= grew crops on) an area of land
As a result, the number of yeomen was halved.
For the yeoman, a hedge was a protective barrier: for the commoner it was an illegitimate divider.
Of the twelve women, those whose status can be established were drawn from the settled families of yeomen or husbandmen.
In this parish, however, it was the better-off husbandmen who controlled this office following the decline of yeoman participation.
In each parish there was a small group of yeomen, four or five well-off husbandmen or craftsmen and a number of poorer husbandmen.
Upon their return, most yeomen were starkly reminded of the realities of their situation.
The power of the teetotaler's cautionary confession is thus made abundantly evident: a yeoman farmer becomes a new-style meritocratic landed gentleman.
In only three of the thirty-one years for which records of churchwardens survive was a yeoman not elected to the office.
