Domesday Book
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Domesday Book is Britain's most famous public record. It is also an example of how the machinery of 
government could be used to collect and record information about people and property. For medieval 
monarchs it was an invaluable source of information, and it provided the basis upon which all 
subsequent landholding was calculated. Besides being used to assess tax on land, it showed William 
the Conqueror who his wealthiest subjects were and their obligations to the Crown. But it also served 
as a safeguard for landholders, since it provided them with a formal record of their estates and 
helped to define their status in relation to the Crown.

The Domesday Book consists of two volumes: Little Domesday, covering Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, which 
dates from 1086, and Great Domesday, dating from 1086 to 1090.

It was written by an observer of the survey that "there was no single hide nor a yard of land, nor 
indeed one ox nor one cow nor one pig which was left out". The grand and comprehensive scale on which 
the Domesday survey took place, and the irreversible nature of the information collected led people 
to compare it to the Last Judgement, or 'Doomsday', described in the Bible, when the deeds of 
Christians written in the Book of Life were to be placed before God for judgement. This name was not 
adopted until the late 12th Century.

The Domesday Book provides extensive records of landholders, their tenants, the amount of land they 
owned, how many people occupied the land (villagers, smallholders, free men, slaves, etc.), the amounts 
of woodland, meadow, animals, fish and ploughs on the land (if there were any) and other resources, 
any buildings present (churches, castles, mills, salthouses, etc.), and the whole purpose of the survey
- the value of the land and its assets, before the Norman Conquest, after it, and at the time of 
Domesday. Some entries also chronicle disputes over who held land, some mention customary dues that 
had to be paid to the king, and entries for major towns include records of traders and number of houses.

However, the Domesday Book does not provide an accurate indication of the population of England 
towards the end of the 11th century.

One of the most important near-contemporary accounts of the making of the Domesday survey is that of 
the Anglo-Saxon chronicler. He tells us that William:

        "...had much though and very deep discussion about this country - how it was 
	occupied or with what sorts of people. Then he sent his men all over England 
	into every shire and had them find out how many hundred hides there were, or 
	what land and cattle the king himself had, or what dues he ought to have in 
	twelve months..."

Also he had a record made of how much land his Archbishops had, and his Bishops and his Abbots and his 
Earls, and ... what or how much everybody had who was occupying land in England, in land or cattle, 
and how much money it was worth.

        "...there was no single hide nor a yard of land, nor indeed one ox nor one 
	cow nor one pig which was there left out: and all these records were brought 
	to him afterwards..."


Consequences
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No contemporary text explains why Domesday Book was made, so its purpose remains controversial. Every 
entry contains information relating to taxation so it could be a tax book; but if so, it was poorly 
designed, for the layout of the text would have made it hard to use for fiscal purposes. The book does, 
however, enable readers to identify the lands held by King William and his barons very quickly and 
precisely; so it is more likely to have been intended as an instrument of political control. The 
barons were prepared to yield this instrument to the king since it gave them what they wanted most 
following the greatest tenurial revolution in England's history - greater security of title to their 
lands.

Other thoughts were that there were just three reasons why William decided to compile the book. The 
information would help William discover how much the people of England could afford to pay in tax, 
the information about the distribution of the population would help William plan the defence of England 
against possible invaders, and there was a great deal of doubt about who actually owned some of the 
land in England. 

William is said to have planned to use this information to help him make the right judgements when 
people were in dispute over land ownership. More likely it was to be able to tax the country more 
effectively...

In "A General Introduction to Domesday Book (etc.)", Sir Henry bibliothecarius Ellis sees the 
consequences of the Domesday book as:

	By the completion of this Survey the King acquired an exact knowledge of 
	the possessions of the crown. It afforded him the names of the landholders.
	It furnished him with the means of ascertaining the military strength of 
	the country and it pointed out the possibility of increasing the revenue 
	in some cases and of lessening the demands of the Tax Collectors in others.
	It was moreover a Register of Appeal for those whose titles to their property 
	might be disputed.

Domesday Book is the earliest English historical document preserved by the government which 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, government, society and economy of 
eleventh-century England with greater precision than is possible for any almost other pre-modern polity. 

Given the extent to which our knowledge of our past depends upon it, Domesday Book is certainly one 
of the one of the most important - and arguably the most important - English historical document.





Sources:
Stephen Baxter
ww.domesdaybook.co.uk
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.bl.uk
www.historylearningsite.co.uk