Constitutional History.
574
[chap.
Comparative farmer furnish similar’ evidence of competency 1 ; and these are
the yeoman an irrefragable answer to the popular theories of the misery
and discomfort of medieval middle-class life : all the necessaries
of living were abundant and cheap, although the markets were
more precarious owing to there being no foreign supplies to
make up for bad harvests, and the necessary use of salted
provisions, during great part of the year, was an unwholesome
burden which fell heavily on this class; the supply of labour
was fairly proportioned to the demand ; the life of the country
was almost entirely free from the evils that in modern times
have resulted from the overgrowth or unequal distribution of
population. The house of the freeholder was substantially but
simply furnished, his stores of clothes and linen were ample, he
had money in his purse and credit at the shop and at the
market. He was able in his will to leave a legacy to his
parish church or to the parish roads, and to remember all
his servants and friends with a piece of money or an article
of clothing. The inventory of his furniture, which was en-
rolled with his will, enables the antiquary to reproduce a fair
picture of every room in the house : there were often comforts
and even luxuries, although not such as those of later days ;
but there was generally abundance. It is of course to be
remembered that only the fairly well-to-do yeoman would
think it worth while to make a will ; but also it was only
the fairly well-to-do yeoman who could contribute to the poli-
tical weight of his class.
The , vaietti, 482. If the ‘ vadlettus ’ of the reign of Edward II distinctly
Oiyeomen. angwerecj ∣0 ∣-]lc ‘ vadlettus ' of 1445, we should have in him
a certain link between the ‘ Iiberi homines ’ and ‘ Iibere te-
nentes’ of Henry II and the yeoman of the fifteenth century.
Hetnrn of In 1311 Rutland returned two ‘ homines ’ to parliament because
ι>aιiianιent. there were no knights, and in 1322 several counties returned
‘ valletti ’ in the same capacity 2 : this was doubtless done on
1 No evidences on social matters are half so convincing as wills and in-
ventories ; and fortunately large selections of medieval wills are now in
print or accessible : eight volumes of Yorkshire and Durham wills have
been issued by the Surtees Society.
a See above, p. 411.
XXi.] Electoral Franchise. 575
the principle according to which Henry II allowed ‘legales
homines,’ in default of knights, to act as recognitors. But it
would seem more probable that the class which furnished the
‘ valletti ’of 1322 was that of the squires, and that they them-
selves would have been a few years later called ‘armigeri.’ On VaiettiarB
the other hand, the ‘valletti’ of 1445, whom the sheriffs are
forbidden to return as knights, are certainly yeomen. The
statute enumerates the classes who may be chosen, notable
knights, or notable squires,—gentlemen of birth,—and ex-
cludes those who are ‘ en la degree de vadlet et desouth1/
But, as has been already stated, very little can be inferred
from this act; for although it is distinctly aimed at the ex-
clusion of persons of inferior rank from the body of knights' of
the shire, it does not appear to have caused any change in the
character of the persons returned. In every county the same The act of
family names recur before and after the passing of the act, and dɪdnotma-
• terially
it can only be conjectured that the statutory change was called affect tɪɪe
for by the occurrence of some particular scandal the details tιS,esenta'
of which have been forgotten. As it stands, however, it proves
that the position of a knight of the shire was not further re-
moved from the ambition of a well-to-do yeoman, than it is
from that of the tenant farmer or gentleman farmer of the
present day. The precedent of 1322, if it applies at all, is
weakened by the fact that there was a strong reluctance in the
knights to undertake the task of representation, and a con-
sequent anxiety on the part of the sheriff to return any one
who was willing to attend.
483. It is not then in the point of eligibility to serve in Political
parliament, but in the collective weight given by the right of Sthey∞-
franchise, that we must look for the real political influence πxanry'
which the yeomanry exercised. What was the exact state of The statute
affairs which the forty-shilling franchise was intended to eiɪise in-
remedy, can only be conjectured, for, plain as the words of secure order,
the statute seem, they are met by what seems equally COU- the balance
elusive evidence in the lists of the knights returned. By the tatio!‰'sen'
existing law the elections were to be made by all who were
1 See above, p. 415.