Domesday book and anglonorman governance transactions. The authors apply modern theoretical and statistical methods to the unique data source of domesday book 1086 to analyse the system of manorial production. The placenames found in the domesday book are township and estate names, and may include other villages and hamlets that receive no specific mention in the text. Canonteign manor in christow, exeter is mentioned in the domesday book and. The concepts involved can seem difficult and are complicated by the apparent differences between anglosaxon and anglonorman practices. Anglonorman england was governed by local officers. The survey could not have been made without the machinery of government that the anglosaxons bequeathed to the normans. Domesday book is kept at the national archives in london.
In a parallel development, around 1100 the normans in southern italy completed their catalogus baronum based on. The name domesday book middle english for doomsday book came into use in the 12th century. All england except the far north still yet to come fully under norman control was. Brentry how norman rule reshaped england christmas. For most english villages and towns but not, unfortunately, london and winchester, for which no domesday records survive, domesday is the starting point of their history. The national archives is the home of domesday book, the oldest surviving public record. Grand 10bed manor that was garrison for king charles i. English and norman armies clashed in a battle just outside hastings, in which harold died legend has it that. Domesday book and anglonorman governance transactions of. Harvey states in her paper domesday book and anglonorman governance, many of the nearcontemporary texts have suffered because all have been turned into domesday satellites.
Sally harveynoted scholar of the domesday book and the norman. Domesday book is a manuscript record of the great survey of much of england and parts of wales completed in 1086 by order of king william the conqueror. For historians of anglonorman england, the survey is of immeasurable importance. Responses to the threat of invasion, 1085 the english. What the domesday book shows is that the norman barony had taken over the role of the english thegns in anglonorman england. Domesday book and anglonorman governance volume 25 sally p. An inestimable boon to a learned posterity but a vast administrative mistake was the brief verdict of mr richardson and professor sayles in their treatment of the governance of england from the norman conquest to magna carta. While this is mainly true, the domesday now has a mystical importance over other texts.
Domesday book was designed to perform three functions. Domesday book is largely about landowners and landholding. The domesday book put that assessment on a firm basis, so that everybody knew what was owed by them and what was due to them. The norman kings continued to use the unit for their tax assessments until the end of the 12th century. Domesday book and anglonorman governance by sally p.
Following the norman conquest of england, the hidage assessments were recorded in the domesday book and there was a tendency for land producing. For the main concepts and formulae employed in domesday book, see. To avoid bias, the juries would have both normans and native anglo saxons sitting. Domesday book contains data both on who the owner of the estate was and how valuable it was as measured by how much. All content is available under the open government licence v3. The anglosaxon chronicle relates there was no single hide glossary icon. Domesday book is the oldest government record held in the national. Domesday book stands accused of isolation and its historians stand convicted of isolated devotion to domesday studies. Harvey, domesday book and anglonorman governance, transactions of the royal historical society, 5th ser. Read i8 october i974 domesday book stands accused of isolation and its historians stand convicted of isolated devotion to domesday studies. Highams point had been partly anticipated by stenton, first century of english feudalism, 150, n. The domesday book stands out in comparison to all other sources from this time. The domesday book compiled in 10856 is one of the few historical.