Yeoman, << YOH muhn >>, was a retainer (dependent) of a feudal lord during the late Middle Ages in England. In the early 1400’s, the name was used for officials in the households of nobles and for small freeholders and farmers on a feudal manor. By the Tudor period (1485-1603), yeomen had become an independent class of small landowners and farmers. They were superior in status to ordinary villagers and workers but ranked below gentlemen and squires. During the late 1700’s, men of this class formed their own cavalry groups, called yeomanry. The yeomanry were officially organized by an Act of Parliament in 1794.
In 1485, King Henry VII organized the Yeomen of the Guard, who formed a bodyguard to the monarch of England. Today, the Yeomen still serve as royal bodyguards on formal occasions, but their duties are purely ceremonial. Enlisted men wear colorful costumes—and carry weapons—that date back to the late 1400’s and the 1500’s. According to tradition, a visiting grand duke in 1669 was astonished by the large amounts of beef that the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London consumed. He nicknamed them beefeaters, which they are still called today. See Tower of London.
An appointment to the Yeomen of the Guard is honorary. Members are chosen from the officers and enlisted men of the United Kingdom’s regular armed forces. In the United States Navy, petty officers performing clerical work have the rating of yeoman.
