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.

Subsequent History

Domesday Book was originally preserved in the royal treasury at Winchester (the Norman kings' capital). It was originally referred to as the Book of Winchester, and refers to itself as such in a late addition. When the treasury moved to Westminster, probably under Henry II, the book went with it. In the Dialogus de scaccario (temp. Hen. II.) it is spoken of as a record from the arbitrament of which there was no appeal (from which its popular name of "Domesday" is said to be derived). In the middle ages its evidence was frequently invoked in the law-courts; and even now there are certain cases in which appeal is made to its testimony.

Related Topics:
Winchester - Westminster - Henry II

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It remained in Westminster until the days of Queen Victoria, being preserved from 1696 onwards in the Chapter House, and only removed in special circumstances, such as when it was sent to Southampton for photozincographic reproduction. The Domesday Book was eventually placed in the Public Record Office, London; it can be now seen in a glass case in the museum at The National Archives, Kew. In 1869 it received a modern binding. The ancient Domesday chest, in which it used to be kept, is also preserved in the building.

Related Topics:
Queen Victoria - Photozincographic reproduction - Public Record Office - The National Archives

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The printing of Domesday, in "record type", was begun by the government in 1773, and the book was published, in two volumes in 1783; in 1811 a volume of indexes was added, and in 1816 a supplementary volume, separately indexed, containing :

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• The "Exon Domesday" (for the south-western counties),
• The Inquisitio Eliensis,
• The Liber Winton (surveys of Winchester early in the 12th century), and
• The Boldon Book- a survey of the bishopric of Durham a century later than Domesday.

Photographic facsimiles of Domesday Book, for each county separately, were published in 1861-1863, also by the government. Today Domesday Book is available in numerous editions, usually based per county and available with other local history resources.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although unique in character and of priceless value to the student, even scholars are unable to explain portions of its language and of its system. This is partly due to its very early date, which has placed between it and later records a gulf that is hard to bridge.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To the topographer, as to the genealogist, its evidence is of primary importance; for it not only contains the earliest survey of a township or manor, but affords in the majority of cases the clue to its subsequent descent.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~