Domesday Book
-
What is the Domesday Book?
The Domesday Book is the record of William I's survey of England in 1086. It was known as "the description of England" at the time, but gained the name Domesday, referring to the final judgment day, by the mid-12th century because of its comprehensive and authoritative nature.
The survey, notable for its speed and detail, was conducted by commissioners who compiled accounts of landholdings for the king and his tenants-in-chief. These accounts were summarized into what is now known as the Domesday Book, which excludes northern areas.
The Domesday Book consists of two volumes: Great Domesday and Little Domesday. It is a valuable historical resource, serving as a starting point for the history of most English towns and villages and is currently held at the National Archives in London.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who ordered the Domesday Book to be made and when?
William I ordered the Domesday Book to be made in 1086. The survey, known by contemporaries as "the description of England," was completed with remarkable speed and detail. Commissioners gathered information for the king and his tenants-in-chief, compiling elaborate accounts of estates. Royal clerks then summarized these documents into what is now known as the Domesday Book.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why was the Domesday Book created?
The Domesday Book, also called "the description of England," is the record of William I's survey of England. It was created in 1086 to account for the estates of the king, his tenants-in-chief, and their values.
Commissioners gathered information through sworn inquests in county towns from sheriffs, barons, subtenants, and village representatives. The material was grouped by shires, hundreds, and villages, then reorganized under the names of the king and his tenants.
The Domesday Book is an invaluable resource for historians of Anglo-Norman England and serves as the starting point for the history of most English towns and villages.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kind of information was collected in the Domesday Book?
The Domesday Book is the record of William I's survey of England, completed in 1086. It is called Domesday because it was like Doomsday, when people face a record with no appeal.
The survey collected details about landholders, land dimensions, plowing capacity, the number of agricultural workers, mills, fishponds, and property value. Commissioners gathered facts from the sheriff, barons, subtenants, and village representatives. The information was organized geographically by shire, hundred, and village and then regrouped under the names of the king and his tenants.
The Domesday Book is held at the National Archives in London.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How was data for the Domesday Book gathered from people?
The Domesday Book survey gathered data through a sworn inquest. Commissioners posed questions to formal sessions held in the chief county town. Information was supplied by the sheriff, barons, subtenants, and representatives from each hundred and village.
The procedure was geographic, collecting material by shires, hundreds, and villages. The material was then regrouped under the names of the king and his tenants in chief, recognizing the Norman feudal system. The Domesday Book is a remarkable record of English land and landholdings made by order of William the Conqueror around 1086.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is the Domesday Book important for historians today?
The Domesday Book is invaluable to historians as a detailed record of England's lands and landholdings, commissioned by William I (the Conqueror) around 1086. It offers a comprehensive overview of the English economy and society of that time, which was primarily agrarian. It contains names of landholders in 1066 and 1086, dimensions, plowing capacity, the number of agricultural workers, mills, fishponds, and values. For most English towns and villages, the Domesday Book is the starting point of their history. The book is kept at the National Archives in London.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Domesday Book, the original record or summary of William I’s survey of England. By contemporaries the whole operation was known as “the description of England,” but the popular name Domesday—i.e., “doomsday,” when men face the record from which there is no appeal—was in general use by the mid-12th century. The survey, in the scope of its detail and the speed of its execution, was perhaps the most remarkable administrative accomplishment of the Middle Ages.
The survey was carried out, against great popular resentment, in 1086 by seven or eight panels of commissioners, each working in a separate group of counties, for which they compiled elaborate accounts of the estates of the king and of his tenants in chief (those who held their land by direct services to him). From these documents the king’s clerks compiled a summary, which is Domesday Book.
Domesday Book covers all of England except the northern areas. Though invariably called Domesday Book, in the singular, it in fact consists of two volumes quite different from each other. Volume I (Great Domesday) contains the final summarized record of all the counties surveyed except Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. For these three counties the full, unabbreviated return sent in to Winchester by the commissioners is preserved in volume II (Little Domesday), which, for some reason, was never summarized and added to the larger volume.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
Several related documents survive, one of which is the Exon Domesday, an early draft of the return for the circuit comprising the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, and Cornwall.
From yet another related document, the Inquisitio comitatus Cantabrigiensis (“The Inquisition of the County of Cambridge”), a very early draft of the Cambridgeshire material, the actual procedure followed by the commissioners is revealed. Their method was that of the sworn inquest, by which answers were given to a long list of definite questions. Formal sessions were apparently held in the chief county town, and the facts were supplied by the sheriff, the barons, and their subtenants and by representatives from each hundred (or subsidiary division of the county) and from every village.
The procedure was thus strictly geographic, material being collected by shires, hundreds, and villages. But before being sent to the royal court at Winchester the material for each county was regrouped under the names of the king and his tenants in chief, thus recognizing the new Norman conception of a feudal society based on the honour or barony, a complex of estates that were treated as a unit even if not adjacent.
Volume I thus gives, under each county heading, a roll of the holders of land, from the king to the humblest tenant in chief. Their fiefs are described consecutively and consist of long lists of manors, with the names of their holders in 1066 and 1086, their dimensions and plowing capacity, the number of agricultural workers of various sorts, their mills, fishponds, and other amenities, and finally their values in pounds.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
For most English villages and towns (but not, unfortunately, London and Winchester, for which no Domesday records survive), Domesday is the starting point of their history. For historians of Anglo-Norman England, the survey is of immeasurable importance.
Domesday Book is kept at the National Archives in London.