title: Ned Stark

text: Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character in the 1996 fantasy novel "A Game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin, and "Game of Thrones", HBO's adaptation of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. In the storyline, Ned is the lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional continent of Westeros. Though the character is established as the main character in the novel and the first season of the TV adaptation, a plot twist involving Ned at the end of the novel and the end of the first season shocked both readers of the book and viewers of the TV series.


title: Ned Stark

text: Ned is portrayed by Sean Bean in the first season of "Game of Thrones", as a child by Sebastian Croft in the sixth season and as a young adult by Robert Aramayo in the sixth and seventh seasons. Bean was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television and a Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor for the role. He and the rest of the cast were nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2011.


title: Ned Stark

text: In "A Game of Thrones" (1996), Ned Stark is introduced as the virtuous and honorable patriarch of House Stark and the father of six children. The moral compass of the story, he is content to remain far from courtly intrigues and is unwavering in his view of loyalty and honor. His family name, Stark, serves as an indication of his resistance to moral compromise, but his boundaries are increasingly tested over the course of the novel. Finding himself a key player in the escalating political intrigue of King's Landing, Ned struggles as his own sense of honor draws him into corrupt goings-on at court. As the story progresses, he begins to see the importance of moral and practical compromises to achieve a just end, and is ultimately forced to choose between the safety of his family and doing what is right.


title: Ned Stark

text: Sean Bean said of the character, "He's a good man trying to do his best in the middle of this corruption, he's a fish out of water, he's used to being up north in Winterfell where people are pretty straight and pragmatic, and he comes down to a place where people are playing games and backstabbing ... he's a principled man who tries to hold things together. This is a journey that he makes where ultimately his loyalty causes his downfall."


title: Ned Stark

text: "Publishers Weekly" noted in 1996 that, despite the honest Ned Stark's intervention in court politics, "no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control." From his very first introduction, Ned is portrayed as a noble hero and set up to be the heart of the story. With fifteen chapters devoted to his point of view, more than any single character in the novel, he is presented as a primary character in the series, and the main storyline of "A Game of Thrones", the drama in King's Landing, is told entirely from his perspective. In the "London Review of Books", John Lanchester writes that everything about Ned is designed to gain audience sympathy, from his strong sense of honor and moral compass to his compassion towards his wife and children. Readers are led to believe that Ned will be the main character of the series, but ultimately he is, from a literary perspective, a classic decoy protagonist. After struggling to keep himself and the kingdom on a moral path for the entire novel, the only option that remains to save his family is to put aside his honor; he does so, but is betrayed anyway. Calling Ned's execution "shocking", "The New York Times" noted in 2011 that the novel was "famous for dispatching a thoroughly admirable major character with whom readers have been identifying for most of the book". In an interview for "Entertainment Weekly", author George R. R. Martin commented on this misdirection:


title: Ned Stark

text: David Benioff, executive producer and writer of the HBO adaptation, told "Entertainment Weekly" that when he read the novel:


title: Ned Stark

text: In a review of the "Game of Thrones" TV episode "Baelor", James Poniewozik wrote in "Time" that "the execution of Eddard Stark is crucial to the story and its themes and everything that follows, but it's also a meta-message to the reader: don't take anything for granted here". James Hibberd of "Entertainment Weekly" stated that tricking the audience into thinking Ned is the hero and then killing him makes the series' story better. Writing that "the big twist here isn't that Ned Stark dies, but who the true protagonists of "Game of Thrones" are", Hibberd pointed out that the series' focus proves to be the "new generation" of leaders, in particular the Stark children but also Daenerys and even Tyrion. He noted:


title: Ned Stark

text: As established in "A Game of Thrones", Eddard "Ned" Stark is the second son of Rickard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell. Years before the events of the novel, the quiet and shy young Ned is fostered in the Vale by Jon Arryn. During this time Ned becomes close friends with Robert Baratheon, heir to the Stormlands and another ward of Arryn's. Robert is eventually betrothed to Ned's sister Lyanna, but before he can marry her, Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen absconds with Lyanna. Ned's father and older brother Brandon go to King Aerys II Targaryen and demand that Lyanna be freed; the so-called "Mad King" executes both Rickard and Brandon, convinced that the Starks seek to usurp him. Ned, Robert, and Arryn then rise in revolt, securing the support of House Tully with Ned marrying Brandon's betrothed Catelyn Tully. Ned leaves for war the very next morning.


title: Ned Stark

text: At the decisive Battle of the Trident, Robert manages to kill Prince Rhaegar and scatter the Targaryen army. Robert is injured in the battle, so Ned takes command and marches on the capital. In King's Landing, Ned finds that House Lannister has — through treachery — already sacked the city, and murdered Aerys and the royal family. Disgusted by the dishonorable massacre, Ned departs to lift the siege of the Baratheon stronghold Storm's End, and later attempts to rescue Lyanna but finds her dying; her last words are "Promise me Ned." Ned returns to Winterfell with his bastard son Jon Snow in tow; meanwhile Catelyn has delivered their son and Ned's heir, Robb, conceived on their wedding night.


title: Ned Stark

text: Six years after the end of Robert's Rebellion, Balon Greyjoy, the Lord of the Iron Islands, declares independence from the Iron Throne. Ned aids King Robert in putting down "Greyjoy's Rebellion". Balon surrenders, and his sole surviving heir, Theon, is taken back to Winterfell as Stark's ward and hostage. Ned rules the North for nine more years before the events of the novel.


title: Ned Stark

text: As "A Game of Thrones" begins, Catelyn informs Ned that his mentor Jon Arryn had died, and that King Robert intends to offer Ned Jon's old position as Hand of the King. Content to be far from court intrigue, Ned is reluctant to accept the offer until he receives a letter from Arryn's widow, who believes that her husband had been poisoned by the Lannisters. Ned subsequently agrees to the appointment to protect Robert. He then travels south to King's Landing with his daughters Sansa and Arya. Catelyn later comes to the capital in secret, under the protection of her childhood friend Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, to tell Ned of an assassination attempt on their young son Bran. Ned's longstanding mistrust of the Lannisters is further fueled by Littlefinger's confirmation that the dagger used by the would-be assassin once belonged to Tyrion Lannister. Increasingly disgusted by the political intrigues at court, Ned finally resigns his position when Robert insists on having Aerys' only surviving child, the young Daenerys Targaryen, assassinated in exile. Meanwhile, Catelyn has taken Tyrion hostage at the Eyrie, and in retaliation Jaime Lannister attacks and seriously injures Ned in the street before he and his daughters can depart King's Landing. Visiting a wounded Ned, Robert reappoints him as Hand.


title: Ned Stark

text: Ned eventually concludes that all of Robert's heirs with his wife Cersei are illegitimate, the product of her incest with her twin brother Jaime. Further, Ned suspects that Arryn had been poisoned to conceal the truth. Ned confronts Cersei with his discovery and gives her the chance to escape with her children into exile. Before Ned can tell the king, Robert is fatally wounded while hunting and names Ned Protector of the Realm, to function as regent until his "son" Joffrey comes of age. Ned alters Robert's will, replacing Joffrey's name with "my rightful heir" to make the succession ambiguous. With the palace in chaos, Ned rebuffs multiple offers to increase his own power, instead opting to crown Robert's brother, Stannis Baratheon, as king. Cersei, however, outmaneuvers Ned, and the duplicitous Littlefinger has the city watch arrest Ned instead of Cersei. With all of his entourage slaughtered, Sansa a hostage and Arya escaped but alone, Ned is charged with treason. A deal is struck in which Ned will be spared and sent into exile if he declares Joffrey the rightful king. Fearing for his daughters, Ned makes a public confession of his "treason". The sadistic Joffrey, however, has Ned executed anyway for his own amusement.


title: Ned Stark

text: Ned's arrest pits the Stark and Lannister forces against each other, and his execution causes a civil war later called the War of the Five Kings. Tyrion Lannister eventually returns Ned's bones to his widow Catelyn, but it is not confirmed whether they ever arrived at Winterfell. He is mentioned in a flashback along with his friend Robert Baratheon in the follow-up novel "A Clash of Kings".


title: Ned Stark

text: In January 2007 HBO secured the rights to adapt Martin's series for television. When the pilot went into production in 2009, one of the first casting announcements was Sean Bean as the "lead" Eddard Stark. As the show premiered in 2011, the "Los Angeles Times" called Bean's Ned "the strong and brooding headliner of the series".


title: Ned Stark

text: As in the source novel, Ned is beheaded in the ninth episode of season 1, "Baelor". Though praising the character's demise for its role in propelling the story, James Hibberd of "Entertainment Weekly" later noted that:


title: Ned Stark

text: Hibberd echoed the show's producers' statement that "the move lays down a dramatic precedent for the show: Nobody is safe". He called it a "risky" move that would probably lose the show viewers who had tuned in for Bean, but would hopefully attract others impressed by the boldness of it. Executive producer and writer D. B. Weiss told "Entertainment Weekly" in 2011 that when he and Benioff pitched the series to HBO, the fact that "main character" Ned was slated to die "was a selling point for them". Noting that the network has killed off characters in other successful series, he said that this sense of jeopardy "completely ups the ante for any moment when a character is in a dire situation if you know another character didn't survive a similar situation". HBO programming president Sue Naegle concurred, saying that Ned's death made the show creatively more attractive, adding that "The book series was filled with unexpected twists and turns. I loved this idea we'd bring together the group of characters, then once you started to believe all the tropes of heroes, you pull the rug out from under them. It's the opposite of feeling manipulated". Noting that the story and world of the series is bigger than any one character, Naegle said, "Sean brings a giant following, but "Thrones" is not just about the promise you're going to see one of your favorite actors week in and week out. The star is the story". Bean noted that Ned's death "was as much a surprise to me as anyone" and called it "a very courageous move for a television company".


title: Ned Stark

text: The image of Bean as Ned Stark sitting in the Iron Throne is featured on the covers of the 2011 Season 1 DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets, released in March 2012.


title: Ned Stark

text: The character makes a return in the sixth season, under a recurring capacity, via flashback visions of his youth and childhood seen by Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven using Greensight.


title: Ned Stark

text: In season 1, King Robert Baratheon travels to Winterfell and asks his old friend and closest ally Eddard "Ned" Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, to assume the position of Hand of the King after the sudden death of their mentor, Jon Arryn. Not interested in politics or the intrigues of the court, Ned accepts out of duty, as well as to discover how Arryn died. Ned travels to King's Landing with his daughters Arya and Sansa, the latter of which is betrothed to Robert's eldest son, Prince Joffrey. Meanwhile, Ned's wife Catelyn has Tyrion Lannister captured, believing he was responsible for sending an assassin to kill Bran and that the Lannisters also killed Jon Arryn. Ned and Robert soon find themselves at odds regarding Daenerys Targaryen, and Ned steps down as Hand in defiance against Robert's wishes to have her killed. Soon after, Ned and his guards are attacked by Tyrion's brother Jaime Lannister; Ned is injured and his men are murdered. Robert reappoints Ned as Hand and commands him to have Catelyn release Tyrion and make peace with the Lannisters. While Robert departs for a boar hunt, Ned discovers that Tywin Lannister and his forces are laying siege to the Riverlands, the homeland of his wife's house, the Tullys. He demands Tywin present himself in King's Landing and sends a force to bring his bannermen to justice.


title: Ned Stark

text: Robert is killed just as Ned discovers that his three children by Cersei were actually fathered by the queen's twin, Jaime. Before Ned is able to neutralize Cersei and place Robert's brother Stannis on the throne, he is betrayed by Littlefinger, and the queen has him imprisoned for treason. Ned's eldest son Robb calls in his father's banners and marches an army south in an attempt to rescue his father. Ned makes a public confession to save his daughters from Cersei's wrath, but Joffrey has Ned beheaded anyway.


title: Ned Stark

text: In the season 6 episode "Home", Bran sees a vision of Ned (Sebastian Croft) as a child with his sister and brother, Lyanna and Benjen. In the following episode, "Oathbreaker", Bran witnesses the battle between a young Ned (Robert Aramayo) and the knight Ser Arthur Dayne at the Tower of Joy. In the episode "The Door", Bran watches Ned bid Benjen and his father, Rickard, farewell as he departs for his fosterage at the Vale. In the following episode, "Blood of My Blood", Bran briefly glimpses Ned's hand amongst someone's blood, revealed in the season finale, "The Winds of Winter", as belonging to Lyanna (Aisling Franciosi), dying of childbirth in the tower. She makes him swear to protect her son - Jon Snow. Bran revisits this moment in the season 7 finale, "The Dragon and the Wolf", where Lyanna whispers Jon's true name to Ned - Aegon Targaryen.


title: Ned Stark

text: Bean was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television, a Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor, and an EWwy Award for Best Actor, Drama for the role. IGN named Ned its Best TV Hero of 2011, and Bean won the Portal Award for Best Actor.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Kyle James Kozub Mooney (born September 4, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" from 2013 until 2022. Mooney co-wrote and starred in the film "Brigsby Bear", in addition to co-creating, co-writing, producing, and starring in the adult cartoon comedy "Saturday Morning All Star Hits!".


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney's work has appeared on a number of shows, including his man-on-the-street interviews, which were featured on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "Sports Show with Norm Macdonald". Mooney has been a regular writer and performer at the acclaimed Upright Citizens Brigade since 2007. He has starred in a number of recurring TV roles, such as Rory on the HBO comedy series "Hello Ladies" and as Murphy Brown Fünke in "Arrested Development".


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney was born the youngest in a family of three boys in San Diego, California, to parents Linda (née Kozub) and Brian Mooney. Linda is a former reporter for "The San Diego Union-Tribune", and Brian is an environmental consultant and planner. Mooney has two older brothers, Sean and Ryan. Mooney is left-handed and nearsighted.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney's Marshall Middle School class chose him as the most likely to become a television star. He graduated from Scripps Ranch High School in 2003, where he won Best Actor as Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and was hailed as class clown. Mooney studied film at the University of Southern California. There, he performed improv and sketch comedy with collegiate group "Commedus Interruptus". After a six-week audition process in 2003, the three new members added to Commedus were Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, and Nick Rutherford.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney is a self-described collector and owns a VHS collection that he started working on as a child. Through connections made while working on SNL, Mooney has been able to get his VHS tapes autographed by the actors who have starred in them. For example, Mooney owns a "Beetlejuice" VHS that was signed by both Michael Keaton and Alec Baldwin.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: In 2007, Mooney, Bennett, and Rutherford came together to form the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor, along with Mooney's friend, director and editor Dave McCary. Bennett and McCary joined Mooney on "SNL" in 2013 (as a performer and director, respectively), and Rutherford was hired as a writer the following year. In 2014, Good Neighbor was featured on NewMediaRockstars' Top 100 Channels, ranked at No. 98.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: He auditioned to join SNL in the summer of 2012 but was rejected; he auditioned the next season and was accepted. On September 28, 2013, Kyle Mooney made his debut on "Saturday Night Live" as a featured player. At the start of the forty-first season, Mooney was upgraded to repertory status.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney brought some of his YouTube characters to "SNL", including his person-on-the-street interviews, the 4/20 Weed-Smoking Guy, Chris Fitzpatrick, Todd from "Inside SoCal", and Bruce Chandling.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: His celebrity impressions on "Saturday Night Live" include Jim Acosta, Woody Allen, Criss Angel, Fred Astaire, David Axelrod, Jeff Bezos, Neil Cavuto, Lincoln Chafee, Bradley Cooper, Tom Cotton, Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson, Bruce Jessen, Steve Jobs, John Kennedy, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Lawrence, Macklemore, Howie Mandel, Chuck Norris, Rand Paul, Pope Francis, Axl Rose, Skrillex, Stephen Stills, and Steven Tyler. He departed the series after season 47, ending a nine-season run.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney started his personal YouTube channel (called "kyle") in September 2005, where he posted short comedy sketches. He was also a member of the channel GoodNeighborStuff, along with Beck Bennett, Nick Rutherford and Dave McCary.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: Mooney starred in and co-wrote the film "Brigsby Bear", which premiered in 2017 at the Sundance Film Festival. He co-wrote the film with Kevin Costello over a two to three-year period, drawing inspiration from his own life, his interest in 1980s children's television shows and cartoons, and his experience making short films with Costello and McCary in middle school. Dave McCary directed the film.


title: Kyle Mooney

text: In December 2021, the adult cartoon comedy "Saturday Morning All Star Hits!", co-created, co-written, and executive produced by Mooney, was released on Netflix. He also stars in several roles. The eight-episode series is directed by Dave McCary and animated by Ben Jones. Mooney and Jones created the show based on a mutual love of Saturday-morning cartoon blocks from their childhoods in the 1980s and 1990s.


title: Yeoman

text: Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witnessed the rise of the yeoman longbow archer during the Hundred Years' War, and the yeoman outlaws celebrated in the Robin Hood ballads. Yeomen also joined the English Navy during the Hundred Years' War as seamen and archers.


title: Yeoman

text: In the early 15th century, yeoman was the rank of chivalry between page and squire. By the late 17th century, yeoman became a rank in the new Royal Navy for the common seamen who were in charge of ship's stores, such as foodstuffs, gunpowder, and sails.


title: Yeoman

text: References to the emerging social stratum of wealthy land-owning commoners began to appear after 1429. In that year, the Parliament of England re-organized the House of Commons into counties and boroughs, with voting rights granted to all freeholders. The Act of 1430 restricted voting rights to those freeholders whose land value exceeded 40 shillings. These yeomen would eventually become a social stratum of commoners below the landed gentry, but above the husbandmen. This stratum later embodied the political and economic ideas of the English and Scottish enlightenments, and transplanted those ideas to the Thirteen English colonies in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. The yeoman farmers of those colonies became citizen soldiers during the American Revolution against Great Britain.


title: Yeoman

text: The 19th century saw a revival of interest in the medieval period with English Romantic literature. The yeoman outlaws of the ballads were refashioned into heroes fighting for justice under the law and the rights of freeborn Englishmen.


title: Yeoman

text: The earliest documented use occurs in Middle English. There are no known Old English words which are considered acceptable parent words for yeoman. Nor are there any readily identifiable cognates of yeoman in Anglo-Norman, Old Frisian, Old Dutch, Old Saxon, or Middle Low German. All of these languages are considered to be closely related to Old English at the time they were spoken. Taken together, these facts would indicate that yeoman (1) is a word specific to the regional dialects found in England; and (2) is nothing similar to any word used in continental Europe.


title: Yeoman

text: Another complicating factor for the etymology is that yeoman is a compound word made by joining two other words: "yeo" + "man". Linguists have been perplexed about the origin of "yeo" ever since scholars such as John Mitchell Kemble and Joseph Bosworth began the modern linguistic study of Old English in the early to mid 19th century. Two possible etymologies have been proposed to explain the origin of "yeo".


title: Yeoman

text: The "Oxford English Dictionary" (OED) has proposed that yeoman is derived from "yongerman", which first appeared in a manuscript called "Pseudo-Cnut's Constitutiones de Foresta". Although the manuscript has been demonstrated to be a forgery (it was produced during the reign of King Henry II of England, rather than during the reign of King Cnut), it is considered authentic to the 11th and 12th century forest laws. According to the OED, the manuscript refers to 3 social classes: (1) the thegn (noble) at the top; (2) the tunman (townman) at the bottom; and (3) the lesser thegn in the middle. "Yongerman" is considered a synonym for a lesser thegn. OED then suggested that "yongerman" is related to "youngman", meaning a male youth or young male adult who was in the service of a high-ranking individual or family.


title: Yeoman

text: What is interesting about this proposed etymology is that "youngman" is in turn related to Old Norse "ungmenni" (youths); North Frisian "ongman" (lad, fellow); Dutch "jongeman" (youngman); and German "Jungmann" (deckhand, ordinary seaman); cf. also German "Junker" ⇐ "jung[er] Herr". Thus this etymology provides a plausible semantic link from "yongerman" to "youngman", while at the same time providing most of the earliest definitions of yeoman (see Historical Meanings below).


title: Yeoman

text: The "Chambers Dictionary of Etymology" (CDE) is another well-respected scholarly source, as it is published by the same company which produces The Chambers Dictionary. Their proposed etymology reconstructs a possible Old English word, "*ġēamann", as the parent of yeoman. (The asterisk or star as the first letter is a linguistic convention to indicate the word has been reconstructed, and is unattested in any surviving record). The reconstructed word is a compound word made from the root word "ġē", "ġēa" (district, region) + "mann" (man). To further strengthen their etymology, CDE compares their reconstructed word to Old Frisian "gāman" (villager), and modern West Frisian "gea", "goa", Dutch "gouw", German "Gau" (district, region).


title: Yeoman

text: When comparing the simpler and more comprehensive OED etymology with the CDE etymology, modern linguists have expressed dissatisfaction with the CDE version.


title: Yeoman

text: In the history of the English language, the earliest recorded usage of yeoman occurs in the Late Middle English period, and then becoming more widespread in the Early Modern English period. The transition from Middle English to Early Modern English was a gradual process occurring over decades. For the sake of assigning a historical date, OED defines the end of Middle English and the beginning of Early Modern English as occurring in 1500. The year 1500 marks the end of nearly 200 years of political and economic upheaval in England. The Hundred Years War, the recurring episodes of the Black Death, and over 32 years of civil war known as the War of the Roses all contributed to the end of the Middle Ages in England, and the beginning of the English Renaissance. It was during this time that English gradually replaced Norman French as the official language.


title: Yeoman

text: The first single-language dictionary of the English language, Robert Cawdrey's "Table Alphabeticall", was published in 1604. According to its subtitle, the dictionary only included unusual English words, and loan words from foreign languages such as Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or French. Yeoman is not included in this dictionary. This suggests that in 1604, yeoman was a very commonly-used English word.


title: Yeoman

text: A more comprehensive, or general dictionary, was published in 1658. Edward Phillips' "The New World of English Words" contained basic definitions. Yeoman is included; probably for the first time in an English language dictionary. But only a legal definition was given: (1) a social class immediately below a Gentleman; and (2) a freeborn man who can sell "his own free land in yearly revenue to the summe of 40 shillings Sterling". The fact that only the legal definition (introduced in the Act of 1430) was given is another suggestion that yeoman was a common word at the time.


title: Yeoman

text: Therefore, between the 12th century "Pseudo-Cnut de Foresta" and "The New World of English Words" in 1658, linguists have had to re-construct the meanings of yeoman from the surviving manuscripts. The various meanings of yeoman were apparently widely understood by the document author and his audience, and were not explained in the manuscripts. Linguists have deduced these specific historical meanings based on the context in which yeoman was used within the document itself. It is these meanings which are described in the following sections.


title: Yeoman

text: This is one of the earliest documented uses of yeoman. During the 14th century, it referred to a servant or attendant in a royal or noble household, usually one who was of higher rank in the household hierarchy. This hierarchy reflected the feudal society in which they lived. Everyone who served a royal or noble household knew their duties, and knew their place. This was especially important when the household staff consisted of both nobles and commoners. There were actually two household hierarchies which existed in parallel. One was the organization based upon the function (duty) being performed. The other was based upon whether the person performing the duty was a noble or a commoner.


title: Yeoman

text: Similar household duties were grouped into Household Offices, which were then assigned to one of several Chief Officers. In each Household Office, the servants were organized into a hierarchy, arranged in ranks according to the level of responsibility.


title: Yeoman

text: could be filled by either commoners or members of noble families. Any household duties which required close contact with the lord's immediate family, or their rooms, were handled by nobles.


title: Yeoman

text: For example, the Steward oversaw the Offices concerned with household management. Procurement, storage, and preparation of food, waiting at table, and tending to the kitchen gardens, were some of the duties for which the Steward was responsible. Under the Steward during the reign of King Edward III, there were two separate groups of yeomen: "Yeomen of the King's Chamber" and "Yeomen of the Offices". The first group were members of noble families who waited only on the King, and the second group were commoners who performed similar duties for other household residents and guests in the Great Hall, kitchen, pantry, and other areas.


title: Yeoman

text: Yeoman service (also yeoman's service) is an idiom which means "good, efficient, and useful service" in some cause. It has the connotations of the work performed by a faithful servant of the lower ranks, who does whatever it takes to get the job done.


title: Yeoman

text: The sense – although not the use – of the idiom can be found in the "Gest of Robyn Hode", dated to about 1500. In the "First Fitte" (the first section of the ballad), Robin gives money to a poor knight to pay his debt to the abbot of St Mary's Abbey. Noticing that the knight was traveling alone, Robin offers him the service of Little John as a yeoman:


title: Yeoman

text: Here Robin vouches for Little John as a yeoman, a faithful servant who will perform whatever duties are required in times of great need.


title: Yeoman

text: The phrase "yeoman's service" is used by William Shakespeare in Hamlet (published in 1601). In Act V, Scene II, Hamlet tells Horatio how he discovered the king's plot against himself in a commission (document). Hamlet then says he has substituted for the original a commission which he himself wrote:


title: Yeoman

text: Hamlet remarks that he "wrote it fair", that is, in elegant, gentlemanly prose; a style of writing which he tried very hard to forget. But in composing the fake commission, Hamlet had to resort to "that learning". He tells Horatio that "it did me yeoman's service", that is, his learning stood him in good stead. "Standing one in good stead" is another idiom very similar in meaning to yeoman service. Note that it was used in the third line of Stanza of the "Gest of Robyn Hode" quoted in the paragraph above.


title: Yeoman

text: Marshalsea Court was a court of the English royal household, presided over by the Steward and the Knight-Marshal. The court kept records from about 1276 until 1611. Unfortunately, only a few survive from the years 1316–59. Some information on the yeomen of the Marshalsea Court can be found in the Household Ordinance of King Edward IV from about 1483. The author of the Ordinance, looking back to the earlier household ordinances of King Edward III wrote: "Our sovereign lord's household is now discharged ... of the Court of Marshalsea, and all his clerks and yeomen." The writer was referring to the transfer of the Marshalsea Court from the royal household.


title: Yeoman

text: The Ordinance describe the duties of the Steward of the Household, who was also the Steward of the Court of Marshalsea. The Steward was assigned one chaplain, two squires, and four yeomen as his personal retinue. One yeoman was specifically attached to the Steward's rooms at the Court of Marshalsea "to keep his chamber and stuff". When the Steward was present in Court, he was entitled to a 10-person retinue. Besides the Steward and the Knight-Marshal, two other members of the royal household were empowered to preside: the Treasurer and the Controller. Of the Steward, Treasurer, and the Controller, at least one of them must preside in the Court every day.


title: Yeoman

text: One of the earliest documents which contains yeoman as a chivalric rank is the "Chronicon Vilodunense" ("Life of Saint Edith"). Originally written in Latin by Goscelin sometime in the 11th century, it was later translated into the Wiltshire dialect of Middle English about 1420. Part of the manuscript relates a story about the archbishop of York caught in a storm at sea while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He prayed to Saint Edith for the storm to subside, and suddenly he saw Saint Edith standing beside him. The Blessed Virgin had sent her, she said, to assure the archbishop he would arrive home safe and sound. Miraculously, the storm stopped. The archbishop kept his vow, and visited St Edith's tomb at Wilton Abbey. There he preached a sermon about the miracle to each man there: knight, squire, yeoman, and page.


title: Yeoman

text: Although Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery, it held its lands from the king by knight service. The Abbess' knights were her tenants, who in turn held land from the Abbey by knight service. Usually the abbess fulfilled her duty to the king by scutage. But she had knights with King Henry III on his 1223 Welsh campaign, and at the Siege of Bedford Castle the following year. Between 1277 and 1327 she offered knight service at least four times.


title: Yeoman

text: About 50 years later in 1470, another reference to yeomen is made in the Warkworth Chronicle. The scene is King Edward IV's coronation, and the chronicler lists the nobles who received titles from His Majesty. At the end of the list he notes: "And other gentlemen and yeomen he made knights and squires, as they had deserved." (modern spelling) The chronicler makes no further mention of these men.


title: Yeoman

text: An early historical meaning that seems to have disappeared before our modern era is "something pertaining to or characteristic of a yeoman", such as the speech or the dress. Perhaps the best way of illustrating this meaning is to quote briefly from one of the earliest Middle English ballads. "Robin Hood and the Potter" survives as a manuscript dated from about 1500. Robin demands a one penny toll of the Potter, for which the traveler could then proceed unharmed by the outlaw. The Potter refuses to pay. A scuffle ensues, in which the Potter overcomes Robin. The Potter then wants to know whom he has beaten. After hearing Robin's name, the Potter responds (modern translation from glossary notes):


title: Yeoman

text: In the first stanza the Potter describes himself as a poor yeoman, whom people say Robin Hood would never stop or waylay (also known as a holdup). It is obvious from the story that the Potter was not dressed in a yeomanly manner, otherwise Robin would have never accosted him. It was not until Robin heard the Potter speak that he recognizes him as a yeoman. Whether he was referring to his direct straightforward manner, or his dialect, or both, is unclear to a 21st-century reader. But it is apparent that the original 15th century audiences knew exactly what "good yeomanry" was.


title: Yeoman

text: The Yeoman Archer is a term applied specifically to English and Welsh military longbow archers (either mounted or on foot) of the 14th–15th centuries. Yeoman archers were commoners; free-born members of the social classes below the nobility and gentry. They were a product of the English form of feudalism in which the military duty of a knight to his lord (which was implicit in tenure feudalism) was replaced by paid, short-term service.


title: Yeoman

text: The Yeoman Archers were the English Army's response to a chronic manpower problem when trying to field an army on the European continent during the 14th century. Against 27,000 French knights, England could only muster at most 5,000 men-at-arms. With this 5:1 tactical disadvantage, the English needed a strategic advantage.


title: Yeoman

text: When Edward I invaded Wales in 1282, he quickly realized the battlefield importance of the opposing Welsh archers. Firing from ambush, they inflicted serious casualties on Edward's army. When Edward invaded Scotland for the second time in 1298, his army consisted mostly of infantry (12,500 of 15,000 men). His infantry included about 10,500–10,900 Welshmen. 2,000 men, including archers, were raised as part of the Lancashire and Cheshire levies under the Commission of Array. At the Battle of Falkirk, the English army archers opened up the Scottish schiltrons with hails of arrows. The Scottish infantrymen fled the battlefield, to be pursued and killed by the English cavalry. In 1333, his grandson, Edward III, undertook his first invasion of Scotland, which culminated with the Battle of Halidon Hill. Halidon Hill is where the 20-year old Edward III learned how to combine archers and dismounted men-at-arms – tactics that he would employ during his Crécy campaign in France. The English victory at the Battle of Crécy was followed by another victory at the Battle of Poitiers, and a final victory at the Siege of Calais. After the Battle of Agincourt, the Yeoman Archer had become as legendary as his bow. By negating the tactical advantage of large numbers of cavalry (mounted knights and men-at-arms) with their ability to rapidly fire volleys of arrows, Yeoman Archers are considered part of the Infantry revolution of the 14th century. They could be deployed as "Archers on horse" (mounted archers who could reach the scene quickly, dismount, & set up a firing line) or as "Archers on foot" (foot archers who followed as reinforcements).


title: Yeoman

text: On 22 August 1485, near the small village of Stoke Golding, Henry Tudor met King Richard III in battle for the Crown of England. The War of the Roses had persisted intermittently for more than 30 years between the rival claimants of the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose). In 1483, Richard, of the House of York, had deposed his young nephew, 12-year old Edward V. Henry Tudor, of the House of Lancaster, was the favored candidate to replace Richard.


title: Yeoman

text: Three armies met that day on Bosworth Field: Richard, with his supporters, Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Northumberland; Henry, with his troops under command of the veteran John de Vere, Earl of Oxford; and the troops of Thomas, Lord Stanley. Stanley was a powerful lord in northwest England. But he was stepfather of Henry Tudor, and Richard was holding his son hostage. Stanley's forces remained uncommitted as the battle raged. As Oxford advanced, the troops appeared to leave Henry, his bodyguards, and some French mercenaries isolated. Or so it appeared to Richard. Sensing an opportunity, Richard charged toward Henry. Seeing this, Stanley made his decision, and charged to reinforce Henry. Henry's bodyguards fought bravely to hold off Richard's bodyguards until the arrival of Stanley's troops. During the melee, Richard's horse became mired in the marsh, and he was killed. Henry had won.


title: Yeoman

text: Henry rewarded his bodyguards by formal establishing the "Yeomen of the Guard of (the body of) our Lord the King". The King of England always had bodyguards ("Yeoman of the Crown"). This royal act recognized their bravery and loyalty in doing their duty, and designated them as the first members of a bodyguard to protect the King (or Queen) of England forever. In their first official act on 1 October 1485, fifty members of the Yeoman of the Guard, led by John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, formally escorted Henry Tudor to his coronation ceremony.


title: Yeoman

text: The Tower of London was used as permanent royal residence until 1509–10, during the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry ordered 12 Yeoman of the Guard to remain as a garrison, indicating that the Tower was still a royal palace. When the Tower no longer served that function, the garrison became warders, and were not permitted to wear the Yeoman of the Guard uniform. During the reign of Henry's son, Edward VI, the warders were given back the uniform. This was done as a result of petition from the former Lord Protector of the Realm, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. Seymour, who was Edward's uncle, had been confined there, and found the warders to be most considerate.


title: Yeoman

text: The earliest documented use of yeoman relative to a navy is found in the "Merchant's Tale of Beryn": "Why gone the yeomen to boat – Anchors to haul?" The context of the quotation sheds no further light on either yeomen or boats. What is important is the date of the manuscript: between 1450 and 1470. This places the "Merchant's Tale of Beryn" about the same time as the "Robin Hood and the Monk" manuscript, and shortly before the end of the Hundred Years War. To understand the connections between yeoman and the early English navy, it is necessary to examine King Edward III's reign and the beginning of the Hundred Years War.


title: Yeoman

text: England did not have a standing navy until the Tudor Navy of King Henry VIII. Before then, the "King's Ships" were a very small fleet allocated for the King's personal use. During the Hundred Years War, King Edward III actually owned only a few ships. The rest were made available to the King through agreements with his nobles and the various port towns of England. About 25 ships of various sizes were made available to Edward III every year. They ranged from the small Thames sailing barges (descended from the famous Norman longships of the Bayeux Tapestry) which shuttled the royal retinue up and down the River Thames, to large cogs. Cogs were large merchant ships, with high prows and sterns, and a single mast with a single square sail. The largest cogs were built to carry sizable wine casks. The Vintners' Company, in return for their monopoly on the wine trade, had to make their cogs available to the King on demand.


title: Yeoman

text: The 1345 "Household Ordinance of Edward III" provides a brief summary of the Fleets organized for the Crécy campaign. The South Fleet (which included all English ports south and west of River Thames) consisted of 493 ships with 9,630 mariners. Of these, the "King's Ships" (25 ships with 419 mariners), the ports of Dartmouth (31 ships with 757 mariners), Plymouth (26 ships with 603 mariners), and London (25 ships with 602 mariners) were the largest contingents. The North Fleet (which included all English ports north of River Thames) consisted of 217 ships with 4521 mariners. The port of Yarmouth, with 43 ships with 1095 mariners, was the largest contingent. The definition of a mariner is unclear, as is the difference between a mariner and a sailor. The number of mariners given is about twice that needed to man a ship. Edward's warships carried two crews. The second crew was used for night sailing, for providing a crew for prize ships, and for providing more fighting men.


title: Yeoman

text: Early in the Hundred Years War, the largest existing merchant ships, such as the cog, were converted to warships with the addition of wooden castles. There were three types of castles: forecastle (at the prow), aftcastle (at the stern), and the topcastle (at the top of the mast). A record from 1335 tells of the vessel "Trinity" (200 tons) being converted for war. As new ships were built, the castles became integral with the ship's hull.


title: Yeoman

text: As the King was impressing all the big ships and their crews for the war effort, the mayors and merchants of the port towns were retrofitting old ships and building new ones for harbor defense, and patrols to protect coastal ships and fishing boats from enemy ships and pirates.


title: Yeoman

text: By this time (mid-14th century), the Captain of the ship was a separate military rank. He was responsible for the defense of the ship. For every 4 mariners aboard the warship, there was 1 man-at-arms and 1 archer who was stationed in the castles. For a vessel the size of the "Trinity", which carried about 130 mariners, there were at least 32 men-at-arms and 32 archers.


title: Yeoman

text: These illuminations from a 14th-century manuscript provide some insight as to how the retrofitted castles were used in battle. The first illustration shows a 2-masted vessel, with a man-at-arms in the retrofitted aftcastle, and an archer in the retrofitted topcastle.


title: Yeoman

text: The next illustration shows a battle scene. The tactics included using grappling hooks to position the ships so that the archers on the aftcastles had clear shots into the opposing ship. After raking the deck with arrows, the men-at-arms would swing over to finish the job.


title: Yeoman

text: The warship Captain was also responsible for convoying 30 merchant vessels from English ports to the French shore. These vessels carried the troops, horses, food, forage, and whatever else was needed upon landing in France.


title: Yeoman

text: The Master (or Master Mariner) was responsible for sailing the vessel. Under him were the Constables (equivalent to today's boatswains). One constable oversaw twenty crewmen. Collecting a crew was traditionally the task of the Master. However, with the need for double-crews, the King authorized his Admirals to offer the King's pardon to outlaws and pirates. In 1342, the number of men who responded exceeded the demand. Edward's deputies never had trouble again raising the crews they needed. This is reminiscent of the pardons offered by Edward to outlaws of the Robin Hood ballads. Therefore, it is possible that the real answer to "Why gone the yeomen to boat – Anchors to haul?" was a pardon.


title: Yeoman

text: Instances of yeoman in a naval context are rare before 1700. In 1509, the Office of Ordnance had a Master, Clerk, and Yeoman. In 1608, a House of Lords manuscript mentions a ship's gunner and a yeoman. Then in 1669 appeared "The Mariner's Magazine", dedicated to the Society of Merchant-Adventurers of the City of Bristol. Among the various chapters on the use of mathematics in sea navigation and gunnery, the author suggests "He [the Gunner] must be careful in making Choice of a sober honest Man, for the Yeoman of the Powder."(modern spelling) In 1702, actual titles of seamen appear in the "London Gazette": Yeomen of the Sheets, and Yeomen of the Powder Room.


title: Yeoman

text: This review of the yeoman freeholders is divided into three periods: (a) up to 1500; (b) between 1500 and 1600; and (c) between 1600 and 1800. This division corresponds roughly to the historical changes experienced by the freeholders themselves, as well as the shifting contemporary social hierarchies in which they lived. It is also influenced by the availability of sources for each period.


title: Yeoman

text: The parliament of 1327 was a watershed event. For the first time since the Norman Conquest, an English king was disposed peaceably, and not usurped by military means. Although Edward II had been previously threatened with deposition in 1310 and 1321, all those who attended the parliament of 1327 were aware of the constitutional crisis. The king was imprisoned by his Queen Isabella and her paramour Roger Mortimer after their invasion of England. The Parliament was a legal pretense to confer legitimacy upon their actions. The Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual were summoned in the King's name, while the Knights of the Shire, Burgesses from the towns, and representatives from the Cinque Ports were elected to attend. (Note 13: Richardson and Sayles 1930 p 44–45) According to Michael Prestwich: "What was necessary was to ensure that every conceivable means of removing the King was adopted, and the procedures combined all possible precedents". Hence, establishing the legitimacy of Edward III was paramount. But it was the Knights of the Shire and Burgesses (hereafter referred to as "the commons") who drove the proceedings, both before and after Edward III's coronation. Beginning in 1327, the commons became a permanent part of parliament.


title: Yeoman

text: In the 14th century, the name commons did not have its modern meaning of "common people". It referred to "the communities", which was "les Communs" in Anglo-Norman French. The word meant that those elected to the parliament were representatives of their communities, that is, the shires and the urban areas. To distinguish between this early assembly from the later House of Commons, "the commons" is used herein.


title: Yeoman

text: The commons included the proctors of the lesser clergy as members of the sessions. In 1333, the commons sat together in a single chamber for the first time. About this same time, the commons was evolving into its role of legislating taxation. The king preferred to include taxes on clerical income with the direct taxes on the laity. The church hierarchy (archbishops and bishops) considered that no secular authority had the right to enforce tax collection from clerical income in a secular court. Such cases, they thought, should be considered in an of law. In 1340, the bishops negotiated a settlement with the Crown, wherein disputes between the king and clergy over taxation would be heard in ecclesiastical courts at either Canterbury or York. Therefore, there was no longer a need for the proctors to attend the commons. This was an important milestone for the commons. It became a secular assembly, its deliberations unaffected by ecclesiastical concerns. In 1342, the commons reorganized itself as the House of Commons, deliberating separately from the king, nobles and higher clergy of noble status. Each county had two Knights of the Shire as representatives, except for Durham and Cheshire, which were county palatines.


title: Yeoman

text: During the 1790s, the threat of French invasion of Great Britain appeared genuine. In 1794, The British Volunteer Corps was organized for home defense, composed of local companies of part-time volunteers. Their cavalry troops became known as the Yeomanry Cavalry. The infantry companies were disbanded by 1813, as the threat of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion evaporated. However, the Yeomanry Cavalry was retained. They were used to quell the food riots of 1794–95 and break up workers' strikes during the 1820s–1840s, as part of their mandate was to maintain the King's Peace. The rise of civilian police forces during this same period (the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act, the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act, and the 1839 Rural Constabulary Act) replaced the Yeomanry Cavalry as an instrument of law enforcement. In 1899, the Yeomanry Cavalry were deployed overseas during the Second Boer War, after a series of devastating British Army defeats. In 1901, the Yeomanry Cavalry formed the nucleus of the new Imperial Yeomanry. Eight years later, the Imperial Yeomanry and the Volunteer Force were combined as the Territorial Force.


title: Yeoman

text: In the modern Navy, a yeoman is an enlisted service member who performs administrative and clerical work.


title: Yeoman

text: The Continental Navy was established by the Continental Congress in 1775. The legislation called for officers, warrant officers, and enlisted men. The roster of enlisted men was left open to each ship captain to fill as he deemed necessary. After the Treaty of Paris, the Navy was considered unnecessary by Congress, and it was disbanded in 1785. The surviving ships were sold off.


title: Yeoman

text: The US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 14) granted the new US Congress the power to build and maintain a navy. It wasn't until 1794, when the worsening US relations with Great Britain and France, as well as the continuing attacks by Barbary pirates, forced Congress to appropriate funds to construct 6 frigates. The US naval hierarchy established followed the precedent set by the British Royal Navy. To which the US Navy added Petty Officers, which included the jobs traditionally assigned to naval yeomen. The first US Navy yeomen were "Yeoman of the Gunroom" and the "Captain's Clerk". Petty officers were appointed by the ship's captain, and served at his pleasure. They did not retain their rank when they moved to another ship.


title: Yeoman

text: As the US Navy transformed from sail to steam, and from wood to steel, the yeoman's duties gradually changed to more administrative tasks. The "Gunner's Yeoman" was eliminated in 1838, the "Boatswain's Yeoman" in 1864, the "Engineer's Yeoman" and the "Equipment Yeoman" in 1893. The "Captain's Clerk" of 1798 became a Yeoman in 1893. Which makes today's Yeoman a descendant of one of the original rates and ratings in the US Navy.


title: Yeoman

text: The previous section on Historical Meanings described just how little was recorded in the contemporary documents of that time about the yeomen. Until the 16th century, yeomen were mentioned either as servants in Norman French-speaking aristocratic households, or as members of the English army or navy in the Anglo-Norman kings' military expeditions across the English Channel. It was not until Middle English became England's official language during the 14th century and the new social stratum of yeoman freeholders gained respectability during the 15th century, that the oral ballads repeated by previous generations of English-speaking yeomen were written down and distributed to a wider audience.


title: Yeoman

text: The best-known ballads were about the yeoman outlaw Robyn Hode (Robin Hood, in modern spelling). A J Pollard, in his book "Imagining Robin Hood: The Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context", proposed that the first Robin Hood was a literary fiction of the 15th and early 16th centuries. This does not mean that Pollard claims that Robin Hood was "not" historical. He considers that what modern popular culture "thinks" it knows about Robin is actually based upon how previous generations over the last 500 years have viewed him. The historical Robyn Hode was (or were, in the case of there possibly being several men whose exploits were melded into the single individual of the ballads) is of secondary importance to his cultural symbolism for succeeding generations. In his review of Pollard's book, Thomas Ohlgren, one of the editors of the University of Rochester's "The Robin Hood Project", agreed with this assessment. Because "A Gest of Robyn Hode" is a 16th-century collective memory of a fictional past, it can also be seen as a reflection of the century in which it was written. Following in the footsteps of Pollard and Ohlgren, this section examines some of the literature written in Late Middle English and Early Modern English to explore how the historical Yeoman was slowly transformed by succeeding generations into a legend for their own times.


title: Yeoman

text: Rhymes (ballads) of Robin Hood were being sung as early as the 1370s. William Langland, the author of "Piers Plowman", has Sloth say that he does not know his "Pater Noster" (Latin for the "Our Father" prayer) as perfectly as the priest sings it, but he does know the rhymes of Robin Hood. Unfortunately, the rhymes that William Langland heard have not survived. The earliest surviving ballads are "Robin Hood and the Monk" (dated to 1450), "Robin Hood and the Potter" (dated to about 1500), and "A Gest of Robyn Hode".


title: Yeoman

text: The oldest copies of "A Gest of Robyn Hode" are print editions dated between 1510 and 1530. These early rhymes are witnesses to a crucial time in English history. The 14th–15th centuries saw the rise of the common people's Middle English over the decline of the aristocrats' Norman French, the military prowess of the yeoman longbowmen during the Hundred Years War (see Yeoman Archers), and the beginnings of a yeoman class (see Social Class of Small Freeholders).


title: Yeoman

text: In the "Gest", Robin is an outlaw (meaning "outside the law"); someone who was summoned to a law court, but failed to appear. He has gathered around himself a fellowship of "sevenscore men", that is, 140 skilled bowmen. Nevertheless, Robin is the King's Man: "I love no man in all the world/So well as I do my king;". Disguised as a monk carrying the King's Seal, King Edward finally meets Robin, and is invited to a feast. During the archery contest afterwards, Robin suddenly recognizes Edward. He immediately kneels to offer homage, asking for mercy for his men. Edward grants pardon, and invites Robin to court. Robin agrees, and offers his men as a retinue. Note how Robin's behavior fits a commander of men. This entire scene is reminiscent of the contracted indenture offered by Edward III, where pardons were granted for war service (see Yeoman Archers). It is interesting that this historical detail had been preserved in the "Gest of Robyn Hode".


title: Yeoman

text: These earliest ballads contain clues to the changes in the English social structure which elevated the yeoman to a more powerful and influential level (see A Chivalric Rank). In the box to the left is the opening of "Robin Hood and the Potter". (Note that all quotations have modern spelling, and obsolete words have been substituted.) The audience is addressed as "good yeomen", and yeoman Robin is described as possessing the "knightly virtues" of courtesy (good manners), goodness, generosity, and a devotion to the Virgin Mary. Thomas Ohlgren, a Robin Hood scholar, considers this to be an indication of the social changes the yeomen were undergoing. The yeomen may be lower in social rank to the knight, but they see themselves as possessing the traits of the knightly class.


title: Yeoman

text: In the box to the right, the opening lines of "Gest of Robyn Hode" offer confirmation that yeomen now consider themselves as part of the gentry. The audience is now composed of "gentlemen". Stephen Knight and Thomas Ohlgren suggest that the "Gest" audience was a literate audience interested in political resistance. This interpretation appears to be supported by the rise of the new social class of yeoman (see Social Class of Small Freeholders).


title: Yeoman

text: Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales include several characters described as yeoman, shedding light on the nature of the yeoman in the late 14th century when the work was written.


title: Yeoman

text: In the "General Prologue", Chaucer describes The Yeoman as being the only servant The Knight wanted on the pilgrimage. From the way he was dressed, Chaucer supposes he is a forester. The man is wearing a green tunic and hood. His hair is closely-cropped, his face is tan and weather-beaten, and his horn is slung from a green baldric. The Yeoman is well-armed. He carries a "mighty bow" in his hand with a sheaf of arrows hung from his belt. Chaucer points out that the peacock feather fletching was well-made. The archer obviously took great care when making his arrows. He also carries a sword, a buckler, and a small dagger. (Note the similarity between this yeoman's accoutrements and those of the "Yeomen of the King's Crown".) The forester's final protection is a medal of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.


title: Yeoman

text: Chaucer's description of a forester is based upon his experiences as a deputy forester of North Petherton Park in Somersetshire.


title: Yeoman

text: The very first line of The Yeoman's description is the statement the Knight wanted no other servant. Kenneth J Thompson quoted Earle Birney as saying that a forester was the only attendant the Knight needed; he was a "huntsman-forester, knight's bodyguard, squire's attendant, lord's retainer, king's foot-soldier". The forester's job was to protect the "vert and venison" – the deer and the Royal forest they inhabited. The foresters not only discouraged poaching, but provided winter feed, and cared for newly born calves. The medieval English foresters also provided basic woodland management by preventing unauthorized grazing, and illegal logging. Another function of the forester was assist the King's Huntsmen in planning the royal hunts. The foresters knew the game animals, and where to find them.


title: Yeoman

text: When his lord was campaigning in wartime, the forester was capable of providing additional meat for the lord's table. During the 1358–60 campaign in France, Edward III had 30 falconers on horseback, and 60 couples (or pairs) of hounds.


title: Yeoman

text: The Yeoman has his "mighty bow" (most probably a longbow) at the ready, implying he is on duty serving as bodyguard against highwaymen and robbers. He carries a sheaf of arrows under his belt, which implies an arrow bag suspended from his belt.


title: Yeoman

text: Chaucer's description of The Yeoman has been interpreted as an iconographic representation of the dutiful servant, diligent and always ready to serve. In other words, the very picture of yeoman service.


title: Yeoman

text: Thompson quotes an interesting excerpt from the Anonimalle Chronicle. It is part of the description of King John II's journey to London, after he had been captured by the Black Prince at the Battle of Poitiers:


title: Yeoman

text: The encounter was obviously some political posturing staged by Edward III for the benefit of the French king. It displayed the opposition the French army would face should the King decide to invade England.


title: Yeoman

text: In the tale told by the Friar, the devil assumes the disguise of a yeoman dressed in a green tunic, a hat with black fringes, and carrying a bow and some arrows. The devil meets a summoner on his rounds. The tale continues as a scathing condemnation of the vile corruption of the summoner, whom the devil eventually takes to hell:


title: Yeoman

text: Chaucer constructed this tale quite differently than the other ones. The Canon and his Yeoman are not part of the original party. They are introduced when the group reaches Boughton under Blean, only 5 miles from Canterbury. From the top of Boughton Hill, those traveling along the Pilgrim's Way from London can see the towers of Canterbury Cathedral for the first time. This close proximity to Canterbury makes the entrance of the Canon and his Yeoman suspicious. Even more suspicious is the sudden exit of the Canon, leaving his Yeoman to tell the tale himself.


title: Yeoman

text: Two Chaucerian scholars have different but complementary interpretations, and neither concern a satire on alchemy. Albert E Hartung proposes that the "Canon's Yeoman's Prologue" is a device to include a previously written story into "the Canterbury Tales" as the "Pars Secunda". Jackson J. Campbell proposes the interruption of the pilgrims' journey by the Canon and his yeoman so near to Canterbury is a device to prepare for the Parson's Tale, which is actually a sermon. Both interpretations place importance on the characterization of the Yeoman.


title: Yeoman

text: Hartung proposes that the real reason the Canon rode so fast and so hard to join the pilgrims is that he was seeking new victims. The Yeoman urges that it would be to the pilgrims' advantage to know the Canon better; that he is a remarkable man. The Canon knows the secret of turning the road they are traveling upside down, and repaving it with silver and gold. When The Host asks why The Canon is dressed in dirty rags, when he can afford clothes of the finest material, the Yeoman deftly replies that the Canon will never prosper, because his faith will not allow him to enrich himself though his knowledge.


title: Yeoman

text: The impression that it was time for the Canon and his Yeoman to move on is reinforced by the Yeoman's description of where they lived:


title: Yeoman

text: At this point the Canon reins his horse in beside his Yeoman, demanding that he not reveal any secrets. The Host dismisses the Canon's threats as mere bluster, and the Canon gallops away. The Yeoman's reaction implies that he may have hoped that this would happen. It was the Yeoman who noticed the Pilgrims leaving the hostelry that morning, and informed the Canon.


title: Yeoman

text: At this point, at the beginning of the "Prima Pars" ("First Part"), Campbell draws attention to the Yeoman's manner of speaking. He notes that the Yeoman rambles on impulsively in an unorganized fashion. His speech is full of free association and stream of consciousness.(p 174, 176) Seeing the Canon ride off unleashes a torrent of inventive against the Canon – and against himself. He sorrowfully remembers when his face was fresh and ruddy; now it is the color of lead. He used to wear fine clothing and have "splendid furnishings", now he wears a legging on his head. When their experiments failed to convert one gold coin into two, he borrowed the gold to pay the customer. Campbell describes the self-revulsion felt by the Yeoman for the futility of alchemy, and the deception and dishonesty employed while searching for the philosopher's stone. He hates it, but is fascinated by it at the same time.


title: Yeoman

text: Hartung agrees that Chaucer is presenting the pursuit of the philosopher's stone as an affliction He contrasts the Yeoman's Canon in the "Prima Parta" with the charlatan alchemist in the "Pars Secunda" ("Second Part") of the "Yeoman's Tale". Huntung proposes that this part of the Tale was composed for an audience of clergymen. The alchemist is compared with the devil, and the "worshipful canons" who pursue the study of alchemy are no better than Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But the tirade is not against alchemy itself.


title: Yeoman

text: The penitent Yeoman reinforces the overall theme of pilgrimage, with its emphasis on repentance, and forgiveness. Chaucer is preparing the reader (or listener) for the "Parson's Tale", which a sermon about penitence, "which can not fail to man nor to woman who through sin has gone astray from the right way to Jerusalem celestial".


title: Yeoman

text: The initial performance of William Shakespeare's Henry V was in 1599. The focus of the play was the Battle of Agincourt, which had occurred 184 years before. It is a rousing patriotic play, but it was also propaganda. Elizabeth I sat upon a shaky throne. The Catholic threat from Spain and at home, war with Spain, concern over who she would marry, concern over the succession.


title: Yeoman

text: The Nine Years War was underway. The English army had suffered defeat by the Irish at the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598. Elizabeth and her counsellors were preparing an invasion in 1599. However, her Privy Council was no longer composed of her most trusted advisors. Most of them – Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Sir Christopher Hatton had died by 1591. William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley died in 1598. The council was split between Robert Cecil (Burghley's son) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who were locked in a bitter rivalry.


title: Yeoman

text: In 1599, Elizabeth was 66 years old, and her personal power was waning. She could not prevent the execution of her personal physician, Roderigo Lopez on a false charge of treason brought by the Earl of Essex. In spite of his irresponsibility, the Earl of Essex was appointed Lord Lord Lieutenant, and given command of the 16,000-man Irish invasion force.


title: Yeoman

text: Shakespeare wrote Henry V to rally support for the Ireland invasion. The play followed naturally after his Henry IV, Part 2, written between 1576 and 1599. Henry's victory at Agincourt in spite of overwhelming odds was the perfect plot. Shakespeare presented Henry's invasion of France and his Agincourt victory in all its complexity. The play can be interpreted either as a celebration of Henry's military skill, or as an examination of the moral and human cost of war.


title: Yeoman

text: In the famous rousing call to action in Act 3, scene 1, Henry urges his yeomen to show the French what fine bowmen are raised in England. His yeomen are not "mean and base", but possess a "noble luster" in their eyes. "Unto the breach, dear friends, once more", he almost pleads. The yeomen have been besieging Harfleur for over a month; they are suffering from dysentery. "Follow your spirit" and charge, Henry commands.


title: Yeoman

text: Henry now calls his army a "band of brothers". The camaraderie of combat has made gentlemen of them all. When they hear a veteran speak of what happened on St Crispin's Day, "gentlemen in England" will be ashamed of being asleep in bed at the time such deeds were done.


title: Yeoman

text: Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe: a Romance" was published to an English audience that was experiencing a medieval revival. His notes show that he had read much of the medieval poetry and chronicles which were reprinted during the 17th and 18th centuries. "Ivanhoe" was "... an historical reconstruction of 12th century England in the spiritual image of the 19th." Scott's highly detailed medieval setting attracts the interest of his reading audience; but his characters behave in a 19th-century manner in order to retain that interest. It was a device Scott employed to explore the struggle between good and evil in the guise of the struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and their Norman overlords shortly after the Conquest.


title: Yeoman

text: Scott invented The Captain/Locksley/Robin Hood (hereafter referred to as Locksley) by drawing from Thomas Percy's "Reliques" (1765) and Joseph Ritson's "Robin Hood" (1795), which contained all that was known at the time about the heroic outlaw. However, Scott's Locksley is closest to the yeoman depicted in A Gest of Robyn Hode. Simeone points out that Scott deliberately made Robin Hood a yeoman as well as an outcast in order to show that ordinary men, and not just the rich and powerful, have an important part to play in the making of a nation. Scott re-inforced his point by having Gurth and Wamba, thralls of Cedric, play pivotal roles as well. This was a new concept at the time, as it was during this period (1775–1779) that the American Revolution and the French Revolution occurred.


title: Yeoman

text: Scott refashioned the traditional hero of the Robin Hood ballads into an ancestral hero who would crush the misrule of evil men and restore the rightful rule of law.He demonstrates Locksley's physical superiority with the victory in the archery contest at the Tournament of Ashby. Locksley's ability to lead men in the field is displayed at the attack on Torquilstone castle. At the victory feast under the Tryst Tree, Locksley shares his high table with Cedric, the Saxon franklin, and the Norman Black Knight. His sense of justice supports the democratic system set up by the outlaws concerning the division of the spoils. Locksley's insistence on the Black Knight taking the horn as protection against Prince John's evil henchman Fitzurse demonstrates that he bows to the lawful authority of the King. In turn, the King himself bows to the noble spirit of the Yeoman:


title: Yeoman

text: Howard Pyle's contribution to the Robin Hood revival of the 19th century was his richly illustrated children's book "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood".


title: Yeoman

text: Pyle is the author who first portrayed Robin as a kind-hearted outlaw who "robs from the rich to give to the poor". Each chapter covered one of the Robin Hood tales and the chapter sequence was arranged to present a coherent narrative. The resulting storyline was reused in early films such as "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" and Errol Flynn's "The Adventures of Robin Hood".


title: Yeoman

text: Pyle's visual and verbal depiction of the outlaw yeoman Robin Hood has become the 20th century popular culture icon.[see Chandler] Any resemblance to the yeoman of Gest, or with any possible historical persons who may have inspired the 15th–16th century ballads, is strictly coincidental. Pyle's storyline has been adapted to appeal to 20th century movie audiences as a romanticized rousing action-adventure.[see Pollard]


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 American drama film starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Paul Burke, and Lee Grant. It was directed by Mark Robson, and produced by David Weisbart. Based on Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel "Valley of the Dolls", it follows three women struggling to forge careers in the entertainment industry, each of them descending into barbiturate addiction—"dolls" being a slang term for depressant pills or "downers".


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Though a box office success, "Valley of the Dolls" received largely negative reviews from critics upon release.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Recent Radcliffe graduate Anne Welles is hired as a secretary at a theatrical agency which represents Helen Lawson, a cutthroat Broadway diva. Helen fears newcomer Neely O'Hara will upstage her, so she has Anne's boss pressure Neely to quit their upcoming show. Anne sours on show business after seeing Helen's cruelty toward Neely, but her boss's business partner, Lyon Burke, dissuades her from quitting the agency.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Anne and Neely meet Jennifer North, a beautiful chorus girl with limited talent. They become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: After Lyon lands her an appearance on a telethon, Neely mounts a nightclub act. Buoyed by her overnight success, she moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career. Neely soon succumbs to alcoholism and abuse of the "dolls". She betrays her husband, Mel Anderson, by having an affair with fashion designer Ted Casablanca. After Mel leaves her, Neely divorces him and marries Ted. Neely's spiralling drug and alcohol use eventually sabotages her career and ends her second marriage.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Anne and Lyon start a romance, but Lyon resists Anne's wish to marry. When he abruptly leaves for England, Anne is distraught; she is further upset when her mother dies. Soon Anne's poise and natural beauty attract the attention of her boss's client, Kevin Gillmore, who hires her to promote his line of cosmetics in television and print ads. Kevin falls in love with Anne, but their relationship ends amicably when Anne realizes they are incompatible.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Jennifer follows Neely's path to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar. She becomes pregnant but gets an abortion after learning that Tony has the hereditary condition Huntington's chorea—a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam had been concealing. When Tony's mental and physical health declines, Miriam and Jennifer place him in a sanitarium. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer makes French "art films" — soft-core pornography — to pay the bills. Thinking her body is her only currency, Jennifer commits suicide rather than face a mastectomy after learning she has breast cancer.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Neely's drug and alcohol abuse land her in the same sanitarium as Tony, where they discover each other when Neely begins singing in the common area and he joins her. After she is released, Lyon gets her a role in a Broadway play. Neely soon causes trouble by having an affair with Lyon and attending a press party for Helen Lawson. During a catfight in the ladies' room, Neely removes Helen's wig and throws it in the toilet. Lyon ends his relationship with Neely when she relapses and is replaced by her understudy. Neely continues her bender at a nearby bar and is left screaming and sobbing in a deserted alley when the bar closes.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Upset by Lyon's betrayal, Anne dabbles in "dolls" and almost drowns in the ocean while high. She returns to New England to live with her Aunt Amy. Lyon follows Anne to New England and asks her to marry him. She declines his offer and remains happily single and independent.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The ending to the film was changed dramatically from the novel. In the film, Anne and Lyon never marry and do not have a child together. Rather, she leaves Lyon and returns to Lawrenceville, which is described as the one place she found real happiness. Lyon later visits her to propose but she refuses. These last-minute changes in the script, so out of keeping with Anne's established character (well-known to millions of readers), prompted original screenwriter Harlan Ellison, who wanted to keep the original downbeat ending, to remove his name and credit from the film.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Another important difference is that the film is clearly set in the mid-to-late 1960s and the events unfold over the course of a few years, whereas in the book the story begins in 1945 and develops throughout two decades.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Before filming on "Valley of the Dolls" started in early 1967, there was much publicity surrounding the casting of Judy Garland as Helen Lawson. Garland had not made a motion picture in five years. Her last film, "I Could Go On Singing", was filmed in 1962 and released in March 1963. Despite decent reviews, it was a box-office failure. Shortly thereafter, Garland embarked on a weekly CBS television variety series, "The Judy Garland Show", in the fall of 1963. Although it was favorably reviewed by the press, the ratings were low and was canceled in the spring of 1964. By 1967, Garland was thin, frail, in dire financial straits, and desperate for work. 20th Century Fox then signed her to appear as Helen Lawson in the film version of "Valley of the Dolls". According to Gerold Frank, the author of the biography "Judy", Garland was to receive $75,000 for eight weeks of work, then $25,000 a week if she was needed longer. This would also include her singing one song in the film. In March 1967, Garland flew to New York to attend the wedding of her daughter singer-dancer Liza Minnelli to Australian performer Peter Allen and to meet with the author of "Valley of the Dolls", Jacqueline Susann, at a press conference to promote the upcoming film. In addition, both Garland and Susann appeared as the mystery guests on the CBS-TV game show "What's My Line" on Sunday, March 5 the same year, to further plug and publicize the film. Garland then returned to Hollywood to start work on the film. At first, all went well. Garland filmed some costume tests for the role and successfully pre-recorded the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree". However, after a week's shooting, she was unable to function and was heavily dependent not only on alcohol but also Demerol. Susann, who was cast in a bit part in the film and was sharing Garland's dressing room at the time, found the drug on the floor in her closet. As a result, with no footage deemed usable, Garland was fired by Fox. She begged them to give her another chance, but the studio refused. They did, however, agree to pay her half of her promised fee—$37,500—for her time. Garland was also given the copper-colored sequined pant suit designed by Travilla for the film which she wore during her final New York Palace Theatre engagement in August 1967.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Patty Duke told an audience at a screening of the film at the Castro Theater on July 20, 2009 that director Mark Robson made Garland wait from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm before filming her scenes for the day, knowing that she would be upset and drunk by that time. In her 1987 autobiography "Call Me Anna", Duke felt that Garland had been deliberately exploited by the studio. She wrote: "The producers may have felt justified in hiring her in the first place... They had gotten their PR mileage out of the situation, the 'Judy comeback' stories had created extraordinary publicity for the film and now she was expendable". Academy Award winner Susan Hayward replaced Garland in the role. Hayward reportedly had a difficult relationship with the cast and crew, and her clashes with Duke became part of the dramatic tension between their characters.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: 20th Century Fox wanted contract star Raquel Welch to play Jennifer but she turned it down, not wanting to play a "sexpot" role. She asked to play Neely but the studio refused.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: In January 1967, columnist Dorothy Manners reported that Oscar nominated actress Elizabeth Hartman had been cast in the role of Neely O'Hara, beating out some more famous Hollywood actresses. Hartman had allegedly made a successful screen test that "floored" director Mark Robson and producer David Weisbart, the former already enthralled with her performance in Francis Ford Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now. However, the following month, it was announced that Duke had signed on to play Neely instead, albeit against her agent's advice. Duke's universally panned "over the top" performance almost ruined her career.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The film had its world premiere in Genoa, Italy, on November 16, 1967. Following the premiere, the press boarded the cruise ship "Princess Italia" for a screening on the way to the Canary Islands. The ship then headed to Miami where the US premiere took place on November 28. Further premieres took place along the route until the ship arrived in Los Angeles for a final premiere on December 14. It opened at the Criterion Theatre in New York City on December 15.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The film grossed $50 million worldwide against a $5 million budget. According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $9,700,000 in rentals to break even and made $22,925,000, meaning it made a profit, making it Fox's highest-grossing film at the time not to have a roadshow theatrical release. For seven weeks (Dec. 27, 1967—Feb. 13, 1968), "Valley of the Dolls" was the #1 most profitable motion picture in America.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has a 33% rating based on 39 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Trashy, campy, soapy, and melodramatic, "Valley of the Dolls" may be a dud as a Hollywood expose, but has nonetheless endured as a kitsch classic". Leonard Maltin's "TV Movies" gave the film a BOMB rating: "Scattered unintentional laughs do not compensate for terribly written, acted and directed adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's best-seller".


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The film was included in the 1978 book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way)" by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The Criterion Collection released "Valley of the Dolls" along with its parody "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" in September 2016 on DVD and Blu-ray. While the latter film had previously been released by Arrow Films in the United Kingdom in the same year, this was the first Blu-ray release for "Valley of the Dolls".


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", a 1970 satirical pastiche of "Valley of the Dolls", was filmed by 20th Century Fox while the studio was being sued by Jacqueline Susann, according to Irving Mansfield's book "Life with Jackie". Susann created the title for a Jean Holloway-scripted sequel that was rejected by the studio, which allowed Russ Meyer to film a radically different film with the same title. The suit went to court after Susann's death in 1974; the estate won damages of $2 million against Fox.


title: Valley of the Dolls (film)

text: The film has developed a cult following, with critics and audiences citing its campy sensibility. The film is particularly celebrated by gay men for its campiness and has become part of the LGBT cultural canon.


title: Solid-state battery

text: A solid-state battery is a battery technology that uses solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte, instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.


title: Solid-state battery

text: While solid electrolytes were first discovered in the 19th century, several drawbacks have prevented widespread application. Developments in the late 20th and early 21st century have caused renewed interest in solid-state battery technologies, especially in the context of electric vehicles, starting in the 2010s.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Solid-state batteries can provide potential solutions for many problems of liquid Li-ion batteries, such as flammability, limited voltage, unstable solid-electrolyte interphase formation, poor cycling performance and strength.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Materials proposed for use as solid electrolytes in solid-state batteries include ceramics (e.g., oxides, sulfides, phosphates), and solid polymers. Solid-state batteries have found use in pacemakers, RFID and wearable devices. They are potentially safer, with higher energy densities, but at a much higher cost. Challenges to widespread adoption include energy and power density, durability, material costs, sensitivity and stability.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Between 1831 and 1834, Michael Faraday discovered the solid electrolytes silver sulfide and lead(II) fluoride, which laid the foundation for solid-state ionics.


title: Solid-state battery

text: By the late 1950s, several silver-conducting electrochemical systems employed solid electrolytes, but such systems possessed undesirable qualities, including low energy density and cell voltages, and high internal resistance. In 1967, the discovery of fast ionic conduction β - alumina for a broad class of ions (Li+, Na+, K+, Ag+, and Rb+) kick-started excitement for and the development of new solid-state electrochemical devices with increased energy density. Most immediately, molten sodium / β - alumina / sulfur cells were developed at Ford Motor Company in the US, and NGK in Japan. This excitement for solid-state electrolytes manifested in the discovery of new systems in both organics, i.e. poly(ethylene) oxide (PEO), and inorganics such as NASICON. However, many of these systems commonly required operation at elevated temperatures, and / or were expensive to produce, enabling only limited commercial deployment. A new class of solid-state electrolyte developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON), emerged in the 1990s. While LiPON was successfully used to make thin film lithium-ion batteries, such applications were limited due to the cost associated with deposition of the thin-film electrolyte, along with the small capacities that could be accessed using the thin film format.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In 2011, the landmark work of Kamaya et al. demonstrated the first solid-electrolyte, LiAlGe(PO) (LAGP), capable of achieving a bulk ionic conductivity in excess of liquid electrolyte counterparts at room temperature. With this, bulk solid-ion conductors could finally compete technologically with Li-ion counterparts, leading to the modern era of solid-state research.


title: Solid-state battery

text: As technology advanced into the new millennium, researchers and companies in the automotive and transportation industries experienced revitalized interest in solid-state battery technologies. In 2011, Bolloré launched a fleet of their BlueCar model cars, first in cooperation with carsharing service Autolib, and later released to retail customers. The car was meant to showcase the company's diversity of electric-powered cells in the application, and featured a 30 kWh lithium metal polymer (LMP) battery with a polymeric electrolyte, created by dissolving lithium salt in a co-polymer (polyoxyethylene).


title: Solid-state battery

text: In 2012, Toyota soon followed suit and began conducting experimental research into solid-state batteries for applications in the automotive industry in order to remain competitive in the EV market. At the same time, Volkswagen began partnering with small technology companies specializing in the technology.


title: Solid-state battery

text: A series of technological breakthroughs ensued. In 2013, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder announced the development of a solid-state lithium battery, with a solid composite cathode based on an iron-sulfur chemistry, that promised higher energy capacity compared to already-existing SSBs.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In 2017, John Goodenough, the co-inventor of Li-ion batteries, unveiled a solid-state battery, using a glass electrolyte and an alkali-metal anode consisting of lithium, sodium or potassium. Later that year, Toyota announced the deepening of its decades-long partnership with Panasonic, including a collaboration on solid-state batteries. Due to its early intensive research and coordinated collaborations with other industry leaders, Toyota holds the most SSB-related patents. However, other car makers independently developing solid-state battery technologies quickly joined a growing list that includes BMW, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company and Nissan. Other automotive-related companies, such as Spark plug maker NGK, have retrofitted their business expertise and models to cater to evolving demand for ceramic-based solid state batteries, in the face of perceived obsolescence of the conventional fossil-fuel paradigm.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Major developments continued to unfold into 2018, when Solid Power, spun off from the University of Colorado Boulder research team, received $20 million in funding from Samsung and Hyundai to establish a small manufacturing line that could produce copies of its all-solid-state, rechargeable lithium-metal battery prototype, with a predicted 10 megawatt hours of capacity per year.


title: Solid-state battery

text: QuantumScape, another solid-state battery startup that spun out of a collegiate research group (in this case, Stanford University) drew attention that same year, when Volkswagen announced a $100 million investment into the team's research, becoming the largest stakeholder, joined by investor Bill Gates. With the goal to establish a joint production project for mass production of solid-state batteries, Volkswagen endowed QuantumScape with an additional $200 million in June 2020, and QuantumScape IPO'd on the NYSE on November 29, 2020, as part of a merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition, to raise additional equity capital for the project. QuantumScape has "scheduled mass production to begin in the second half of 2024".


title: Solid-state battery

text: Qing Tao started the first Chinese production line of solid-state batteries in 2018 as well, with the initial intention of supplying SSBs for “special equipment and high-end digital products”; however, the company has spoken with several car manufacturers with the intent to potentially expand into the automotive space.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In July 2021, Murata Manufacturing announced that it will begin mass production of all-solid-state batteries in the coming months, aiming to supply them to manufacturers of earphones and other wearables.


title: Solid-state battery

text: The battery capacity is up to 25mAh at 3.8V, making it suitable for small mobile devices such as earbuds, but not for electric vehicles. Lithium-Ion cells used in electric vehicles typically offer 2,000 to 5,000 mAh at similar voltage: an EV would need at least 100 times as many of the Murata cells to provide equivalent power.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Ford Motor Company and BMW funded the startup Solid Power with $130 million, and as of 2022 the company has raised a total of $540 million.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In September 2021, Toyota announced their plan to use a solid-state battery in some future car models, starting with hybrid models in 2025, due to the cost and lower power requirements.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In January 2022, ProLogium Technology signed a technical cooperation agreement with Mercedes-Benz, a subsidiary of the Daimler Group. The money invested by Mercedes-Benz will be used for solid-state battery development and production preparations.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In February 2022, Alpine 4 Holdings subsidiaries Elecjet and Vayu Aerospace successfully installed Solid State Batteries in their Drones leading up to a sale to a Government Contractor later in the year.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In July 2022, Svolt announced the production of a 20 Ah electric battery with an energy density of 350-400 Wh/kg.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) candidate materials include ceramics such as lithium orthosilicate, glass, sulfides and RbAgI. Mainstream oxide solid electrolytes include LiAlGe(PO) (LAGP), LiAlTi(PO) (LATP), perovskite-type LiLaTiO (LLTO), and garnet-type LiLaZrTaO (LLZO) with metallic Li. The thermal stability versus Li of the four SSEs was in order of LAGP < LATP < LLTO < LLZO. Chloride superionic conductors have been proposed as another promising solid electrolyte. They are ionic conductive as well as deformable sulfides, but at the same time not troubled by the poor oxidation stability of sulfides. Other than that, their cost is considered lower than oxide and sulfide SSEs. The present chloride solid electrolyte systems can be divided into two types: LiMCl and LiMCl. M Elements include Y, Tb-Lu, Sc, and In. The cathodes are lithium based. Variants include LiCoO, LiNiCoMnO, LiMnO, and LiNiCoAlO. The anodes vary more and are affected by the type of electrolyte. Examples include In, Si, Ge""Si, SnO–BO, SnS –PS, LiFeS, FeS, NiP, and LiSiS.


title: Solid-state battery

text: One promising cathode material is Li-S, which (as part of a solid lithium anode/LiS cell) has a theoretical specific capacity of 1670 mAh g, "ten times larger than the effective value of LiCoO". Sulfur makes an unsuitable cathode in liquid electrolyte applications because it is soluble in most liquid electrolytes, dramatically decreasing the battery's lifetime. Sulfur is studied in solid state applications. Recently, a ceramic textile was developed that showed promise in a Li-S solid state battery. This textile facilitated ion transmission while also handling sulfur loading, although it did not reach the projected energy density. The result "with a 500-μm-thick electrolyte support and 63% utilization of electrolyte area" was "71 Wh/kg." while the projected energy density was 500 Wh/kg.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Li-O also have high theoretical capacity. The main issue with these devices is that the anode must be sealed from ambient atmosphere, while the cathode must be in contact with it.


title: Solid-state battery

text: A Li/LiFePO battery shows promise as a solid state application for electric vehicles. A 2010 study presented this material as a safe alternative to rechargeable batteries for EV's that "surpass the USABC-DOE targets".


title: Solid-state battery

text: A cell with a pure silicon μSi||SSE||NCM811 anode was assembled by Darren H.S Tan et al. using μSi anode(purity of 99.9 wt %), solid state electrolyte (SSE) and lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM811) cathode. This kind of solid state battery demonstrated a high current density up to 5 mA cm, a wide range of working temperature (-20 °C and 80 °C), and areal capacity (for the anode) of up to 11 mAh cm (2890 mAh/g). At the same time, after 500 cycles under 5 mA cm, the batteries still provide 80% of capacity retention, which is the best performance of μSi all solid-state battery reported so far.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Chloride solid electrolytes also show promise over conventional oxide solid electrolytes owing to chloride solid electrolytes having theoretically higher ionic conductivity and better formability. In addition chloride solid electrolyte’s exceptionally high oxidation stability and high ductility add to its performance. In particular a lithium mixed-metal chloride family of solid electrolytes, LiInScCl developed by Zhou et tal., show high ionic conductivity (2.0 mS cm) over a wide range of composition. This is owing to the chloride solid electrolyte being able to be used in conjunction with bare cathode active materials as opposed to coated cathode active materials and its low electronic conductivity. Alternative cheaper chloride solid electrolyte compositions with lower, but still impressive, ionic conductivity can be found with an LiZrCl solid electrolyte. This particular chloride solid electrolyte maintains a high room temperature ionic conductivity (0.81 mS cm), deformability, and has a high humidity tolerance.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Solid-state batteries are potentially useful in pacemakers, RFIDs, wearable devices, and electric vehicles.


title: Solid-state battery

text: Hybrid and plug-in electric cars use a variety of battery technologies, including Li-ion, nickel–metal hydride (NiMH), lead–acid, and electric double-layer capacitor (or ultracapacitor), with Li-ion dominating the market.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In August 2020, Toyota started road testing of their prototype vehicle, LQ Concept, equipped with a solid-state battery.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In September 2021, Toyota unveiled its strategy on battery development and supply, in which solid-state battery is to be adopted first in their hybrid electric vehicles to utilize its characteristics.


title: Solid-state battery

text: And, Honda has set their plan schedule to start operation of demonstration line for the production of all-solid-state batteries in Spring 2024.


title: Solid-state battery

text: The characteristics of high energy density and keeping high performance even in harsh environments are expected in realization of new wearable devices that are smaller and more reliable than ever.


title: Solid-state battery

text: In March 2021, an industrial manufacturer Hitachi Zosen Corporation has developed a solid-state battery, claiming to have one of the highest capacities in the industry, and explained about its usage in harsh conditions in space environment. They have already made agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to test their solid-state batteries in space, and the battery will power camera equipment in Japan's Experiment Module "Kibō" on the International Space Station (ISS).


title: Solid-state battery

text: Being lighter weight and more powerful than traditional lithium ion batteries it is resonable that Drones would benefit from Solid State batteries. Vayu Aerospace a drone manufacturer and designer noted an increased flight time after they incorporated them into their G1 long flight drone.