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A colleague responded off-list to my query about "polyptyque," and made it
clear that I need to elaborate.  It seems pretty clear that this source is
a kind of land-record--a collection of charters, perhaps?-- not an
altarpiece (as a diptych or triptych).  These "polyptyques" catalogue the
tenants of an honor, enumerate the members of the family, described the
amount of land they worked, and enumerated the rents and services due to
the lord.

I have, by the way, consulted Higgit's English translation (which I
abandoned a while ago as uneven and at times confusing), and she,
unhelpfully, renders the word as "polyptyque" as if it were ordinary English.

Many thanks.

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Patrick J. Nugent
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana  47374  USA

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