Domesday Book

A survey of land ownership in England after the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes how in 1085 it was decided to make a record of the number of hides in land existing in each English shire and to establish the amount and value of acreage and livestock possessed by individual landowners. The idea was to create a new rating system which would protect and enlarge the king's revenue. The resulting document - a two-volume survey of land ownership arranged under tenurial rather than territorial headings - is the great testament of feudal England. Domesday Book is of fundamental importance to both historians and archaeologists of the Late Saxon and early Norman periods, as it gives the names and sizes of villages, farms, manors, churches, and other properties that existed at the time as well as certain sales and transactions.

Survey of land ownership in England after the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates how at a council held in Gloucester at Christmas 1085 it was decided to make a record of the number of hides in land existing in each English shire and to establish the amount and value of acreage and livestock possessed by individual landowners. The idea behind this was to untangle the complexities of tenure in postConquest England, and lay down the terms for a new rating system which would protect and enlarge the king’s revenue. The resulting document — a two-volume survey of land ownership arranged under tenurial rather than territorial headings — is the great testament of feudal England. Domesday Book is of fundamental importance to both historians and archaeologists of the Late Saxon and early Norman periods, as it gives the names and sizes of villages, farms, manors, churches and other properties that existed at the time as well as certain sales and transactions. It has some limitations, not only because there are a number of omissions and errors but because the country as a whole is viewed as a collection of manors, sokes and berewicks. As a result it is sometimes difficult to gain from its pages a completely clear impression of village structures or population density. Domesday lists 13,000 pre-existing units or vills and even by the time of its compilation the rapid spread of manorialization and deliberate afforestation were evident.