E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Native.
In feudal times, one born a serf. After the Conquest, the natives were the serfs of the Normans. Wat Tyler said to Richard II.:
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“The firste peticion was that he scholde make alle men fre thro Ynglonde and quiete, so that there scholde not be eny native man after that time.”—Higden:Polychronicon, viii. 457.
