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Domesday Book (/ ˈduːmzdeɪ / DOOMZ-day; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William the Conqueror. [1] The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester ...
- Why Was Domesday Book Made – and What Was It Used for?
- Why Is It called Domesday Book?
- What Was The Purpose of The Survey?
- Why Did The Barons Accede to It?
- Why Is Domesday Book So Important?
- Does Domesday Book Help Explain The Causes of The Norman Conquest?
- What Does Domesday Book Reveal About The Impact of The Normans in England?
- What Else Can The Survey Tell Us?
The key to understanding why it was produced is establishing howit was made. The first step was to work out logistics. The kingdom was divided into seven ‘circuits’, most with five shires. Commissioners were appointed to conduct the survey in each circuit and, to ensure neutrality, they each served on circuits in which they did not themselves hold ...
During the lifetimes of the Conqueror and his sons, royal officials employed politically correct language when describing Domesday Book. They called it a “descriptio (survey) of all England” (in 1086), a “volumen (volume) kept in the king’s Treasury in Winchester,” the “king’s book,” the “book of the Exchequer,” the “book of Winchester,” and so on....
This remains deeply controversial. Many historians have argued it was all about the land-tax, known as the geld. That is, of course, logical. William desperately needed cash to finance his wars. Tax records from William’s reign reveal that many landholders enjoyed tax breaks and loopholes, so there was a pressing need to make tax collection more ef...
The Domesday survey was completed with astonishing speed – within six months of the Gloucester council. This could not have been achieved without the active co-operation of the nobility. So what was in it for them? Something that they had yearned for throughout the long period during which England had been colonised was security of title. The Domes...
It is the earliest English document preserved by the government that created it. That makes it England’s earliest bureaucratic instrument. But its importance extends well beyond the origins of English red tape. Domesday Book is the most complete survey of a pre-industrial society anywhere in the world. It enables us to reconstruct the politics, gov...
It certainly proves that pre-Conquest England was rich and effectively administered. Two popular misconceptions are that England before the Norman conquest was in the ‘Dark Ages’ – in other words, backward – and that the Normans began the process of bringing it into the light. Forget those ideas. England’s economy was already not so much developing...
It provides irrefutable testimony to the fact that the Normans exploited the windfall of 1066 by displacing the English elite and extorting the peasantry. The English nobility was virtually wiped out. Domesday’s tables of contents list about 500 tenants-in-chief in 1086. Just 13 of them were English. The kingdom was now dominated by a new class of ...
Because Domesday Book has existed for more than 900 years and has been intensively studied for centuries, it might seem reasonable to assume that its potential for research has been exhausted. Nothing could be further from the truth. Exciting new resources are making it more accessible than ever, and have opened up the possibility of addressing new...
- Ellie Cawthorne
Domesday Book was compiled in AD 1086 for William the Conqueror. It records the number of households, the economic resources, who owned the land, and the tax paid to the king, for almost every settlement in England. This map shows every place in Domesday that can still be located today. Learn more ».
Where can I see the Domesday Book? The original Domesday Book is deemed too valuable and fragile to be exhibited in public and so is kept in private at the National Archives - formerly the Public Records Office - in Kew, London (though it is still used on occasions by students and academics interested in its study).
The Domesday Book. Produced at amazing speed in the years after the Conquest, the Domesday Book provides a vivid picture of late 11th-century England. Find out how it was compiled, and what...
Domesday Book is a detailed survey and valuation of landed property in England at the end of the 11th century. The survey was ordered by William the Conqueror at Christmas 1085 and undertaken...
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What is the Domesday Book?
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Is there a free online copy of the Domesday Book?
Where was space left in Great Domesday Book?
The first online copy of Domesday Book of 1086: search for your town or village in Domesday Book, find population and tax records, and see the original Domesday folios free online.
