Domesday Book

In 1085 William the Conqueror returned to England to deal with a suspected invasion by King Canute IV of Denmark. While waiting for the attack to take place he decided to order a comprehensive survey of his kingdom. There were three main reasons why William decided to order a survey. (1) The information would help William discover how much the people of England could afford to pay in tax. (2) The information about the distribution of the population would help William plan the defence of England against possible invaders. (3) There was a great deal of doubt about who owned some of the land in England. William planned to use this information to help him make the right judgements when people were in dispute over land ownership. (1)

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles reported: "The king sent his men over all England into every shire andd had them find out how many hundred hides there were in the shire, or what land and cattle the king himself had in the country, or what dues he ought to have annually from the shire. Also, he had a record made of how much land his archbishops had, and his bishops and his abbots and his earls - and though I relate it at too great length - what or how much everybody had who was occupying land in England, in land and cattle, and how much money it was worth." (2)

William sent out his officials to every town, village and hamlet in England. They asked questions about the ownership of land, animals and farm equipment and also about the value of the land and how it was used. When the information was collected it was sent to Winchester where it was recorded in a book. About a hundred years after it was produced the book became known as the Domesday Book. Domesday means "day of judgement". It provided an important source of information for historians. John F. Harrison has pointed out that "from this unique document we have an unparalleled picture of early medieval society in England, including much about the peasantry." (3)

Section 23: Harold swears fealty to William of Normandy, Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1090) — Domesday Book

William's survey was completed in only seven months. The kingdom was divided into seven circuts and commissioners summoned to each county court landholders and manorial tenants. On the basis of information already known or collected at the sittings of the courts, the objective was to record not only what land and other property, such as animals and ploughs, but who owned them and what they were worth in the reign of Edward the Confessor. It also suggested that the country had a population of 1,710,000people. (4)

David C. Douglas, the author of William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England (1992), has argued: "Whatever may have been the exact process by which Domesday Book was compiled, it remains an astonishing product of the Conqueror's administration, reflecting at once the problems with which he was faced, and the character of his rule. It was imperative that he should know the resources of his kingdom, for his need of money was always pressing, and never more so than in 1085. He sought therefore to ascertain the taxable capacity of his kingdom, and to see whether more could be exacted from it.... In Domesday Book there is in fact sure testimony of the manner in which William took over (as has been seen) the taxational system of the Old English state, and used it to his own advantage. It is small wonder, therefore, that this was the aspect of the matter which most impressed - and distressed - contemporary observers." (5)

When William the Conqueror knew who the main landowners were, he arranged a meeting for them at Salisbury. At this meeting on 1st August, 1086, he made them all swear a new oath that they would always obey their king. Florence of Worcester claims that the people were very unhappy about the survey as they feared the imposition of higher taxes and "as a consequence the land was vexed with much violence". (6)

Primary Sources

(1) Richard FitzNeal, Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer (c. 1180)

He (William the Conqueror) dispatched the most honest men in his court on circuit throughout the kingdom. In this manner, and by these agents, a careful survey was made of the whole country.

(2) Bishop Robert of Hereford wrote in 1086 about William's survey of England.

In the twentieth year of William, king of the English... made a written survey of his lands of the several provinces... A second group of commissioners followed those first sent, and those were strangers to the neighbourhood.

(3) Florence of Worcester was an English monk. He wrote this account of the Domesday survey, Annals of English History, in about 1125.

King William caused all England to be surveyed... how many ploughs, villeins, animals and livestock, each one possessed in his kingdom from the greatest to the least... And as a consequence the land was vexed with much violence.

(4) Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Version E, entry for 1085.

The king sent his men over all England into every shire andd had them find out how many hundred hides there were in the shire, or what land and cattle the king himself had in the country, or what dues he ought to have annually from the shire. Also, he had a record made of how much land his archbishops had, and his bishops and his abbots and his earls - and though I relate it at too great length - what or how much everybody had who was occupying land in England, in land and cattle, and how much money it was worth. So very narrowly did he have it investigated that there was no single hide nor a yard of land nor indeed (shame it is to relate it but it seemed no shame to him to do) was one ox or one cow or one pig left out, that was not put down in his record. And all these writings were brought to him afterwards.

(5) Domesday entry for Brooke in Norfolk.

Brooke was held by Earl Gyrth in the time of King Edward and King William when he first came gave it to the abbey of St Edmund... There were then 33 villeins - now 38. Then as now 3 slaves. Now 3 ploughs on the demesne, and 6 ploughs belonging to the men. Woodland for 30 pigs, 9 acres of meadow. Now 5 rounceys, 14 beasts, 40 pigs. Now 65 sheep and 20 goats.

(6) Domesday entry for Standon in Hertfordshire.

Rohese, wife of Richard, son of Count Gilbert, holds Standon. Land for 24 ploughs. 29 villagers with a priest. 15 smallholders, 2 freemen and a Frenchman have 12 ploughs. 9 cottagers and 8 slaves. 5 mills at 45s; meadow for 24 ploughs; pasture for livestock; woodland, 600 pigs. Total value in 1086 £33; before 1066 £34. Archbishop Stigand held this manor in 1066. In this manor were six freemen.

(7) David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England (1992)

Every theory as to the making of Domesday Book has some difficulties to overcome. But whatever may have been the exact process by which Domesday Book was compiled, it remains an astonishing product of the Conqueror's administration, reflecting at once the problems with which he was faced, and the character of his rule. It was imperative that he should know the resources of his kingdom, for his need of money was always pressing, and never more so than in 1085. He sought therefore to ascertain the taxable capacity of his kingdom, and to see whether more could be exacted from it. The elaborate calculations, running throughout the whole survey, of hides and carucates in their fiscal connotation as geld paying units, is by itself evidence of this, as is also the prevalence throughout the south and west of England of assessments in multiples of five hides. In Domesday Book there is in fact sure testimony of the manner in which William took over (as has been seen) the taxational system of the Old English state, and used it to his own advantage. It is small wonder, therefore, that this was the aspect of the matter which most impressed - and distressed - contemporary observers.