"dimidiam acram terre Flandrensis ... in villa de Ickelesham,"
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."
_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."[12]--_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 { 71} pheasant, or other bird of beautiful plumage."--_History of England_, Edward I.
"Nec dissimili ingenio Heraldi antiquiores, musicos et cantatores cygnis[13] donarunt. Ejusque haud ignarus perspicax noster Franciscanus cum hos a non cantoribus latos observasset, rationem se ait a rege heraldorum petiisse, eumque duplicem assignasse: hanc quia viri essent pulcherrimi, illam quia haberent longa colla. Sane candorem animi per cygni effigiem antiquitùs prædicabant, nec insulsè igitur corporis. Sed gloriæ studium ex eodem hoc symbolo indicari multi asserunt.
"Cum Edwardus primus," &c. &c.--Spelmanni _Aspilogia_, p. 132.
The Spaniards found that the swan had been employed emblematically in Mexico, supporting the theory of Hornius that that part of America was colonised by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, inasmuch as, according to Bryant, "where the Canaanites or their descendants may have settled, there will a story be found in reference to swans."