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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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yeoman
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Originally a free man living on enough freehold land to support his family and his independence, but the term was later taken to include tenant farmers who had progressed from being villeins to copyholders. Emerging from the disintegration of *feudalism, the yeomen were seen by many from the 15C onwards as the backbone of England. It was they who had been the foot soldiers at *Crécy and *Agincourt. With *gentlemen above and wage-labouring peasants below, they were the beginnings of a middle class.
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