noun
definition
A freeholder, especially as belonging to a class of landowners in the 14th and 15th century ranking below the gentry.
Examples of franklins in a Sentence
In 110o there were 4500 franklins, i.e.
There were but two degrees of men, free and unfree, though only the franklins had any political power; and, from the nature of the life, social intercourse was unrestrained and unfettered; gon and thrall lived the same lives, ate the same food, spoke the same tongue, and differed little in clothing or habits.
The great families put their members into orders, and so continued to enjoy the profits of the land which they had given to the church; the priests married and otherwise behaved like the franklins around them in everyday matters, farming, trading, going to law like laymen.