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
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