Two decades after the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror had royal officials survey almost every county of his English kingdom, recording who held each estate, what it contained and what it was worth. The results, written up in Latin in two great volumes, became known as Domesday Book. Traditionally dated to 1086, it has been called the most remarkable statistical document in European history and remains a basic source for the history of England's land, people and economy.
Why the survey was made
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the king held long discussions with his council in 1085 and then sent men into every shire to find out how much land and livestock there was and what dues he was owed. Since the conquest that followed the Battle of Hastings, most English estates had passed to Norman lords, and William needed a firm record of the crown's rights, above all the land tax called the geld. The survey also showed how much each great lord held and who his under-tenants were, which mattered for military service and for loyalty to the king.
How it was done
The work was organised in regional circuits, which historians can trace from differences in the entries: six for the main volume and a seventh for East Anglia. In most counties royal commissioners held public inquiries, probably in the shire court, attended by representatives of every township and of the local lords. For every hundred, the county subdivision, twelve sworn jurors, half English and half Norman, gave evidence. For each manor the survey asked its value in the time of Edward the Confessor, when the new holder received it, and at the time of the survey, along with its ploughlands, plough teams, meadow, woodland, mills, fisheries and peasants of various classes.
What it contains
The work has two parts. Little Domesday, despite its name the more detailed, covers Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Great Domesday, apparently written out by a single scribe, covers most of the rest of England and some Welsh border lands. The far north, including Northumberland, Durham and most of Cumberland and Westmorland, is missing because it did not pay the geld, and space left for London and Winchester was never filled.
Entries are grouped county by county under each tenant-in-chief, starting with the king, then bishops and abbeys, then lay lords. In all the book records 268,984 heads of household and 13,418 places. Because some groups were left out, historians have estimated England's total population at roughly 1.2 to 1.6 million. It lists 5,624 mills and about 28,000 slaves, fewer than in 1066.
Date and name
The colophon says the survey was finished in 1086, but scholars differ on when the book itself was compiled. Some argue it was completed under William II, and the medievalist Carol Symes has suggested it may not have been finished until as late as 1098 to 1114. It was first called the book or roll of Winchester, where it was kept in the treasury. The English name Domesday, used from the twelfth century, compared it to the Last Judgement: its record could not be appealed. Around 1179 Richard FitzNeal, treasurer to Henry II, explained the name in just those terms.
Later history
The volumes moved to Westminster with the treasury, probably under King John, and were occasionally carried around the country, including to Nonsuch Palace after the Great Fire of London in 1666. During both world wars they were evacuated to prisons in Cornwall and Somerset. Printed in full in 1783, the book was long cited in court cases and is now kept at the National Archives at Kew. Nothing comparable was attempted in Britain until the landowner returns of 1873.
On our maps
Our 1100 map shows the Norman Kingdom of England shortly after the survey was made.