In the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, ...

from the 12th to 15th centuries, a franklin was a member of a certain social class or rank. In the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

period, a franklin was simply a freeman; that is, a man who was not a serf. In the

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

under which people were tied to land which they did not own, serfs were in bondage to a member of the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

who owned that land. The surname " Fry", derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

"frig" ("free born"), indicates a similar social origin. The meaning of the word "franklin" evolved to mean a ''freeholder''; that is, one who holds title to real property in fee simple. In the 14th and 15th centuries, franklin was "the designation of a class of

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

ranking next below the landed gentry". With the definite end of feudalism, this social class disappeared as a distinct entity. The legal provisions for "a free man" were applied to the general population. The memory of that class was preserved in the use of " Franklin" as a surname.

Etymology

According to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'', the term "franklin" is derived from enm, franklen, , , from

Anglo-Latin Anglo-Latin literature is literature from Britain originally written in Latin. It includes literature written in Latin from parts of Britain which were not in England or English-speaking: "Anglo-" is used here as a prefix meaning British rather tha ...

''francalanus'' a person owning ''francalia'', "territory held without dues". Collins mentions the Anglo-French ''fraunclein'', "a landowner of free, but not noble birth", from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

''franc'' free + ''-lein'', "-ling", formed on the model of "

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

". All these go back to

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

''francus'' "free" or "a free man", from

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

*''Frank'', "a freeman", literally, "a

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

"; cognate with

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

''Franko''.

Significance

The social class of franklin, meaning (latterly) a person not only free (not in feudal servitude) but also owning the freehold of land, and yet barely even a member of the " landed gentry" (

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s, esquires and gentlemen, the lower grades of the

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

), let alone of the

( barons,

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

s, marquis,

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

s), evidently represents the beginnings of a real-property-owning

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...

in England during the 14th and 15th centuries. Note that the land and property owned by this English middle class might well be in a

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descr ...

. This is one factor distinguishing this class from the

mainland Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

an bourgeoisie, a social class whose name means "town-dwellers".

Magna Carta

Magna Carta gave rights to free men and the

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

. "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled. Nor will we proceed with force against him. Except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice."

Appearance in literature

* A franklin is one of the characters in '' The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. * Cedric of Rotherwood, a character in the historical novel '' Ivanhoe'' by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, is a franklin. *

Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother ...

uses the term in her novel '' The Conqueror'' (1931), which is set in 11th-century Falaise,

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. * The English translation of

Sigrid Undset Sigrid Undset () (20 May 1882 – 10 June 1949) was a Norwegian- Danish novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. Undset was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, but her family moved to Norway when she was two years old. In 1924 ...

's ''

The Master of Hestviken ''The Master of Hestviken'' is a tetralogy about medieval Norway written by Sigrid Undset. It was originally published in Norwegian as two volumes ''Olav Audunssøn i Hestviken'' and ''Olav Audunssøn og Hans Børn'', from 1925 to 1927. Hestviken ...

'' tetralogy, about

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Norway, names the books' protagonist "a franklin". While not precisely identical to the English class, the Norwegian equivalent was also a class of landowners, often enjoying substantial properties and prestige, but no title of any kind.

Modern usage

Unlike some other terms referring to social class or status in medieval England such as esquire and gentleman, franklin has no modern usage other than as a historical reference to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Several English surnames are thought to derive from this class of people. They developed in the Middle Ages as a status surname, indicating a 'free man'. They derived from the

feudal term ''franchomme''; composed of the elements 'franc' (in its original meaning 'free') and 'homme', man, from the Latin '

homo ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relat ...

'. The various spellings gradually altered because of association with such common English placename suffixes such as '-combe' and '-ham'. The modern surname is found as (among other variations) Francombe, Frankcomb, Francom, Frankcom and Frankham.{{Cite web , url=http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Frankcom , title=Surname Database: Frankcom Last Name Origin

References