In medieval history, the Polyptych (or Polyptyque) was a document detailing the lands that a noble owned. Many also featured names of the peasants that lived there, allowing for historians to track the history of peasant families. Another common feature was the recording of the transport services and payments of money by peasants. The polyptych was developed in the Carolingian period. They are used in the study of

manorialism Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...

. Examples include the

Polyptych of Irminon The Polyptych of Irminon, also known as the Polyptych of Saint-Germain, is an inventory of properties compiled around 823 by Irminon, the abbot of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés in France. The Polyptych describes the possessions of the monastery, loc ...

from the monastery of St-Germain des Pres.

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* *{{Citation , last1 = Vauchez, first1 =André , last2 = Dobson, first2 =Richard Barrie , last3 = Lapidge, first3 =Michael , title =Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Volume 2, publisher =Routledge , year =2000, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=om4olQhrE84C Carolingian period Feudalism in Europe Medieval documents Medieval legal texts