| 1. What was the Domesday Book and when was it produced? (2 marks)
2. What information did it record? (4 marks)
3. What was the purpose of the Domesday Book (how did it increase the king's power?) (6 marks)
4. The Domesday Book gives us interesting insights into England in the 1080s. List some of the things we can learn from it (think about what we can learn about Norman power as well as what we can learn about England). (8 marks)
The Domesday Book is an important part of William the Conqueror's attempt to dominate Medieval England. Along with a string of castles throughout England, the Domesday Book gave William huge authority in England.
What is it?
Twenty years after the Battle of Hastings William I ordered that a book be made containing information on who owned what throughout the country. This book would also tell him who owed him what in tax. This is why the book brought doom and gloom to the people of England - hence "Domesday Book". The decision of what someone owed was final - rather like Judgement Day when your soul was judged for Heaven or Hell.
The whole survey took less than a year to complete.
Here is a sample of the questions asked.
How many ploughs are there in the manor ?
How many mills and fishponds ?
How many freemen, villagers and slaves are there in the manor ?
How much woodland, pasture, meadow ?
What does each freeman owe in the manor ?
How much is the manor worth ?
Norman officials checked the answers and the punishments for giving false information were severe.
The questions were designed to find out how much each manor owed the king in tax. It also told William who owned what land and how much it was worth. The book lists each manor and its owner and the value of that manor.
The book has three values in it for each manor:
How much it was worth before the invasion of 1066
How much it was worth during the invasion and
How much it was worth after the invasion
For Sussex in particular, the Domesday Book contains some interesting information about the area around Pevensey and Hastings - fifteen manors were attacked so badly that they were described as "waste" (as in waste land) by the men sent out to gather information for the Domesday Book. This gives a clear indication of how badly the coastal area of Sussex between Pevensey Bay and Hastings was affected by the Norman invasion.
Though the Domesday Book gives historians a detailed 'picture' of what life was like in England in 1085-1086, the book did miss out important cities such as Winchester (then a major English city) and London. In all, 13,418 places were visited and the final record was produced in Winchester by a monk.
Everybody had to pay their tax to the king. This meant that no lord or other nobleman could build up enough money to raise a private army to challenge William. It also meant that William had money to increase the size of his own army - paid for by English taxes.
William did not live long enough to see the benefit of the Domesday Book. He died in September 1087 but his successor, William II (also known as William Rufus) did benefit as he knew as soon as he was crowned who owed him what and who his troublesome lords might be - because of the wealth they had.
|
