"dimidiam acram terre Flandrensis ... in villa de Ickelesham,"
to have and to hold
una cum redditu et servitio mihi (sic) pertinentibus de alia dimidia acra terre Flandrensis."
The polders of Holland are familiar to all travellers, as lands lying below the level of the sea, once a mere morass, redeemed from that state, and brought into cultivation by embankments, &c., &c.
In another charter, somewhat earlier in date and relating to the same district, viz. the neighbourhood of Winchelsea, Hamo de Crevecour speaks of lands in La more in Ideun, which the monks of Robertsbridge, with consent of his father Hamo, "a mari incluserunt."
I have always supposed that the "terra Flandrensis" of my charter signified land of the same description as the Dutch polders; the art of thus redeeming land being probably introduced from the Low Countries. It is not unlikely that, in that day, lands so brought into cultivation were designated as "terre Flandrenses," and the term afterwards anglicised into "Holland Land."
L.B.L.
Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.).—Symbology of the swan.
"Tunc allati sunt in pompatica gloria duo cygni, vel olores, ante regem, &c. &c.,—vindicaturus."[[9]]—Matthæus Westmonasteriensis.
Dr. Lingard states that "the vows of chivalry were not taken on the gospels, but, ridiculous as it may appear, in the presence of a peacock, or