The Domesday Book: A Comprehensive Guide to Medieval English Land Surveys | Perfect for Historians & Genealogy Research

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The Domesday Book, commissioned in December 1085 by order of William The Conqueror, is generally thought to have been used to assess wealth and assets to collect taxes, and represents an incredible wealth of information on land-use, local economies, and even land disputes between neighbours. This innovative analysis of the Domesday book from the perspective of a professional land surveyor and valuer aims to calculate a timetable for its creation, along with analysing the survey’s purpose, the nature of the data collected, and how it was used. By reverse-engineering the survey, Simon Keith proposes that while the document was an outstanding administrative success as a survey, it was in fact a fiscal failure which was never used directly to collect any taxes. This fascinating study examines the foundation of the well-established, successful and sophisticated hidage assessments upon which the Domesday book was built, discusses the likely timeline of the survey, and examines the logistical problems which are universal to surveyors throughout history.Table of ContentsList of tables, figures and boxesSummaryGlossary of termsPreface1. A surveyor’s perspective2. Why was the Domesday Survey undertaken?3. What does Domesday record?4. Valuation5. The Boroughs6. The logistics7. ConclusionsAppendix A. Agricultural & estate management in the 11th centuryAppendix B. Agricultural labour and the Domesday surveyAppendix C. Agriculture, Livestock and Land UseAppendix D. Landholders and totalsAppendix E. Cornish comparisonAppendix F. Capital sales evidenceAppendix G. Cambridgeshire Shire Reeve Picot’s property empireAppendix H. Surveying a villageReferencesIndex