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liber) although compiled from the returns of that survey, must be carefully distinguished from them; nor is it certain that it was compiled in the See also:

YEAR

year in which the survey was made. For the making of the survey each See also:

COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. comae, cf. O. Fr. cunte, conk', Mod. Fr. comae, from Lat. comitatus, cf. Ital. comitato, Prov. comtat; see COUNT)

county was visited by a See also:

GROUP

group of royal See also:

OFFICERS

officers (legati), who held a public inquiry, probably in the great assembly known as the county See also:

court, which was attended by representatives of every township as well as of the See also:

LOCAL

local lords. The unit of inquiry was the See also:

HUNDRED

Hundred (a subdivision of the county which had then an administrative entity), and the return for each Hundred was sworn to by twelve local jurors, See also:

HALF

half of then) English and half See also:

NORMANS

Normans. What is believed to be a full transcript of these See also:

ORIGINAL

original returns is preserved for several of the See also:

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Cambridgeshire Hundreds, and is of great illustrative importance. The Inquisitio Eliensis, the "Exon Domesday" (so called from the preservation of the See also:

VOLUME

volume at See also:

Exeter), and the second volume of Domesday Book, also all contain the full details which the original returns supplied. The original MS. of Domesday Book consists of two volumes, of which the second is devoted to the three eastern counties, while the first, which is of much larger See also:

SIZE

size, comprises the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of England except the most northerly counties. Of these the See also:

north-See also:

WESTERLY

westerly portion, which had See also:

Carlisle for its See also:

head, was not conquered till some years after the survey was made; but the omission of See also:

Northumberland and See also:

Durham has not been satisfactorily explained. There are also no surveys of See also:

LONDON

London, See also:

Winchester and some other towns. For both volumes the contents of the returns were entirely rearranged and classified according to fiefs. Instead of appearing under the Hundreds and townships they now appeared under the names of the local " barons," i.e. those who held the lands directly of the See also:

CROWN

crown in See also:

fee.

In each county the See also:

list opened with the holding of the See also:

king himself (which had possibly formed the subject of See also:

SEPARATE

separate inquiry); then came those of the churchmen and religious houses; next were entered those of the See also:

lay tenants-in-See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief (barones); and last of all those of See also:

WOMEN

women, of the king's serjeants (servientes), of the few English " thegns " who retained See also:

LAND

land, and so forth. In some counties one or more See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal towns formed the subject of a separate See also:

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 See also:

SYSTEM

system is more confused, the See also:

EXECUTION (from Lat. ex-sequor, exsecutus, follow or carry out)

execution less perfect. The two volumes are distinguished even more sharply by the exclusion, in the larger one, of certain details, such as the enumeration of the live stock, which would have added greatly to its size. It has, indeed, been suggested that the eastern counties' volume represents a first See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt, and that it was fQund impossible, or at least inconvenient, to See also:

COMPLETE

complete the See also:

WORK

work on the same See also:

scale. For the See also:

OBJECT

object of the survey we have three See also:

SOURCES

sources of See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information: (1) the passage in the English Chronicle, which tells us why it was ordered, (2) the list, of questions which the jurors were asked, as preserved in the Inquisitio Eliensis, (3) the contents of Domesday Book and the allied records mentioned above. Although these can by no means be reconciled in every detail, it is now generally recognized that the See also:

PRIMARY

primary object of the survey was to acertain and record the fiscal rights of the king. These were mainly (1) the See also:

NATIONAL

national land-tax (geldum), paid on a fixed See also:

ASSESSMENT, (from Lat. assessare, to sit beside, to judge)

assessment, (2) certain See also:

MISCELLANEOUS

miscellaneous dues, (3) the proceeds of the crown lands. After a great See also:

POLITICAL

political convulsion such as the See also:

Norman See also:

CONQUEST

conquest, and the wholesale See also:

CONFISCATION (from Lat. confiscare, to consign to the fiscus, or imperial treasury)

confiscation of landed estates which followed it, it was William's See also:

INTEREST

interest to make sure that the rights of the crown, which he claimed to have inherited, had not suffered in the See also:

PROCESS

process. More especially was this the See also:

case as his Norman followers were disposed to evade the liabilities of their English predecessors. The Domesday survey therefore recorded the names of the new holders of lands and the assessments on which their tax was to be paid. But it did more than this; by the king's instructions it endeavoured to make a national valuation list, estimating the See also:

ANNUAL

annual value of all the land in the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country, (1) at the See also:

time of King See also:

EDWARD

Edward's See also:

DEATH

death, (2) when the new owners received it, (3) at the time of the survey, and further, it reckoned, by command, the potential value as well.

It is evident that William desired to know the See also:

FINANCIAL

financial resources of his See also:

KINGDOM

kingdom, and probable that he wished to compare them with the existing assessment, which was one of considerable antiquity, though there are traces that it had been occasionally modified. The great bulk of Domesday Book is devoted to the somewhat arid details of the assessment and valuation of rural estates, which were as yet the only important source of national See also:

WEALTH

wealth. After stating the assessment of the See also:

MANOR

manor, the record sets forth the amount of arable land, and the number of plough-teams (each reckoned at eight oxen) available for working it, with the additional number (if any) that might be employed; then the See also:

RIVER

river-meadows, woodland, pasture, See also:

FISHERIES

fisheries (i.e. weirs in the streams), See also:

WATER

water-See also:

mills, saltpans (if by the See also:

sea) and other subsidiary sources of See also:

revenue; the peasants are enumerated in their several classes; and finally the annual value of the whole, past and See also:

PRESENT

present, is roughly estimated. It is obvious that,. both in its values and in its measurements, the survey's reckoning is very crude. 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, 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 See also:

ancient lordships, the crown was entitled to archaic dues in See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind, such as See also:

HONEY (Chin. me ; Sansk. madhu, mead, honey; cf. A.S. medo, medu, mead; Gr. p Xt, in which 0 or b is changed into X; Lat. mel ; Fr. miel ; A.S. hung ; Ger. Honig)

honey. The information of most See also:

general interest found in the great record is that on political, See also:

PERSONAL

personal, ecclesiastical and social See also:

HISTORY

history, which only occurs sporadically and, as it were, by See also:

accident. Much of this was used by E. A. See also:

Freeman for his work on the Norman Conquest. Although unique in See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character and of priceless value to the student, Domesday will be found disappointing and largely unintelligible to any but the specialist.

Even scholars are unable to explain portions of its See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language and of its system. This is partly due to its very See also:

early date, which has placed between it and later records a gulf that is hard to See also:

BRIDGE

bridge. But in the Dialogus de scaccario (temp. See also:

Hen. II.) it is spoken of as a record from the arbitrament of which there was no See also:

APPEAL

appeal (from which its popular name of " Domesday " is said to be derived). In the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages its See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence was frequently invoked in the See also:

law-courts; and even now there are certain cases in which appeal is made to its testimony. 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 See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of cases the See also:

CLUE

clue to its subsequent descent. The rearrangement, on a feudal basis, of the original returns (as described above) enabled the Conqueror and his officers to see with ease the extent of a See also:

baron's possessions; but it also had the effect of showing how far he had enfeoffed " under-tenants," and who those under-tenants were. This was of great importance to William, not only for military reasons, but also because of his See also:

FIRM

firm resolve to make the under-tenants (though the " men " of their lords) swear See also:

ALLEGIANCE (Mid. Eng. ligeaunce; med. Lat. ligeantia, &c.; the al- was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an allegation; the Fr. allegeance comes from the English; the word is formed from " liege," of which the derivatio

allegiance directly to himself. As Domesday normally records only the See also:

Christian name of an under-See also:

TENANT (from Lat. tenere, to hold)

tenant, it is vain to seek for the surnames of families claiming a Norman origin; but much has been and is still being done to identify the under-tenants, the great bulk of whom See also:

bear See also:

FOREIGN

foreign names. Domesday Book was originally preserved in the royal See also:

TREASURY

treasury at Winchester (the Norman See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings' See also:

capital), whence it speaks of itself (in one later addition) as Liber de Wintonia. When the treasury was removed to See also:

Westminster (probably under See also:

Henry II.) the book went with it.

Here it remained until the days of See also:

Queen See also:

Victoria, being preserved from 1696 onwards in the See also:

CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

Chapter See also:

House, and only removed in See also:

SPECIAL

special circumstances, as when it was sent to See also:

Southampton for photozincographic See also:

REPRODUCTION

reproduction. It was eventually placed in the Public Record See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

Office, London, where it can be seen in a See also:

glass case in the museum. In 1869 it received a See also:

MODERN

modern binding. The ancient Domes-See also:

day See also:

CHEST (Gr. Kiarl, Lat. cista, O. Eng. cist, test, &c.)

chest, in which it used to be kept, is also preserved in the See also:

BUILDING

building. The See also:

PRINTING (from Lat. imprimere, O. Fr. empreindre)

printing of Domesday, in " record type," was begun by See also:

government in 1773, and the book was published, in two volumes fol. in 1783; in 1811 a volume of indexes was added, and in 1816 a supplementary volume, separately indexed, containing (I) the " Exon Domesday " (for the See also:

south-western counties), (2) the Inquisitio Eliensis,.(3) the Liber Winton, (surveys of Winchester early in the 12th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century), and (4) the Boldon Book—a survey of the bishopric of Durham a century later than Domesday. Photo-graphic facsimiles of Domesday Book, for each county separately, were published in 1861-1863, also by government.

End of Article: DOMESDAY BOOK

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