The Domesday Book

The Domesday Book

1. What is it?

   • A survey collecting:
     • Who owned all the land in England in 1066 and now
     • How much money he could collect
     • What the land was like
     • How much it was worth in 1066 and now

2. Who wrote it?

   • One of his advisors but no one knows the real identity

3. When was it written/made?

   • 1086

4. Why was it helpful to William?

   • He had a record of how much land there was in England and who owned it
   • He could tell how much his country had changed during the 20 years he had been king
   • Told him how much money he could take from the people as taxes

5. How did William use it?

6. How long did it take to write/make?

   • Took a few months to gain all of the information held in it however, by the time of his death in September 1087 all work on the book had stopped

7. Where was it used?

   • There were 13,478 places listed in it, including a small part of Wales, some of Cumbria, but excluded the present day Northumbria. The entries for some of the major towns at the time like Winchester and London failed to make it into the book

8. Strengths

   • William was able to tell the change in his country since he was king
   • Helped William establish control
   • It would prevent arguments over taxes because all of the information was on record

9. Weaknesses

   • By the time all of the information had been taken in, some people (part of the entries) may have died
   • Some of the main towns' entries failed to make it into it
   • May take some wrong information in and it could affect whoever it was put down as' reputation and it would misplace the whole picture