Domesday Book

:This article is about the 11th century census. See BBC Domesday Project for the multimedia project and Doomsday Book (novel) for the Connie Willis novel.

Domesday Book

Domesday Book is really two independent works. One, known as Little Domesday covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The other, Great Domesday covers the rest of England, except for lands in the north that would later become Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland and County Durham (partly because some of these lands were under Scottish control at the time). There are also no surveys of London, Winchester and some other towns. The omission of these two major cities is probably due to their size and complexity, Cumberland is missing due to the fact that it was not conquered until some time after the survey; the omission of the other counties has not been fully explained.

Related Topics:
Norfolk - Suffolk - Essex - England - Westmorland - Cumberland - Northumberland - County Durham - London - Winchester

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Despite its name, Little Domesday is actually larger - as it is far more detailed, down to numbers of livestock. It has been suggested that Little Domesday represents a first attempt, and that it was found impossible, or at least inconvenient, to complete the work on the same scale for Great Domesday.

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For both volumes the contents of the returns were entirely rearranged and classified according to fiefs, rather than geographically. Instead of appearing under the Hundreds and townships holdings appear under the names of the local barons, i.e. those who held the lands directly of the crown in fee.

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In each county the list opened with the holding of the king himself (which had possibly formed the subject of separate inquiry); then came those of the churchmen and religious houses; next were entered those of the lay tenants-in-chief (barones); and last of all those of women, of the king's serjeants (servientes), of the few English thegns who retained land, and so forth.

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In some counties one or more principal towns formed the subject of a separate section; in some the clamores (disputed titles to land) were similarly treated apart. But this description applies more specially to the larger and principal volume; in the smaller one the system is more confused, the execution less perfect.

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Apart from the wholly rural portions, which constitute its bulk, Domesday contains entries of interest concerning most of the towns, which were probably made because of their bearing on the fiscal rights of the crown therein. These include fragments of custumals (older customary agreements), records of the military service due, of markets, mints, and so forth. From the towns, from the counties as wholes, and from many of its ancient lordships, the crown was entitled to archaic dues in kind, such as honey.

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The information of most general interest found in the great record is that on political, personal, ecclesiastical and social history, which only occurs sporadically and, as it were, by accident. Much of this was used by E. A. Freeman for his work on the Norman Conquest.

Related Topics:
E. A. Freeman - Norman Conquest

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