What Role Does Franklin Play In Society?

For as long as man have lived together, they have divided themselves: the strong from the weak, the rich from the poor, and in Medieval England, the gentle from the masses. Of course today, although there are still without a doubt class distinction and divisions, society has come a long way in a very short time. When Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his masterpiece, Canterbury Tales, societal oppression was the norm, and this inspired many of his character’s whom he created as stereotypes to criticize his world. If one was born poor he or she would be poor for eternity, but if one was born rich and noble, or gentle as it was called, one would live in the lap of luxury. While Chaucer does not directly identify the role that the Franklin plays in society, he does praise the Franklin’s gentle manner and breaking of class barriers. Although today's world views society in
Merriam-Webster defines a franklin as a medieval English landowner of free but not noble birth. However, unlike knights who also were granted land by a baron, the franklin according to Elizabeth Sembler, ““held their lands free of military and labor obligations to their respective lords”(135). Frankly, this is all scholars know for sure about the franklin class. Because of the lack of documentation there is almost nothing historians are able to agree upon when it comes to the exact role the franklin played in society (Sembler 135). The unsurety of the franklin even extends into where exactly the franklins fit into the pecking order of English society. Scholar Michael Johnston claims, ““Franklins in medieval England existed in an ambiguous relationship to gentility”(3). However, the ambiguity of the social position perfectly represents the unsurity of the franklin in medieval society as because of the strict castes no one even in the medieval era could pin exactly where the franklin