Heraldic Shields In The Margins Of A List Of Feudal Properties Of Peterborough Abbey, In The Chronicle And Cartulary Of Peterborough Abbey

Walter de Whittlesey--who presumably came from Whittlesey, just a few miles east of Peterborough--was a monk, scribe, and probably also an illuminator, of Peterborough Abbey. He compiled and wrote out most of this manuscript. Each small gold initial on this page introduces a feudal landholding in a list of property belonging to Peterborough Abbey. Next to many of them are the heraldic arms of the person concerned. At the top of this page, for example, the shield with the three fish is next to a record that 'Geoffrey de la Mare holds two and a half hides of land in Northamptonshire, namely in Makeseie (Maxey), Northburch (Northborough), and Wodecroft (Woodcroft) . . .' and so on. A 'hide' was the amount of land necessary to support the needs of a family which in turn was the amount of land that a plough and eight oxen can till in a year. The actual size of land this represents varies, depending on how fertile it was.