The Domesday Book

 The Domesday Book is England’s earliest surviving public record, unsurpassed in depth and detail until the introduction of censuses in the 19th century.

Towards the end of the 11th century, England came under threat from Danish invaders. William the Conqueror realised the need to catalogue the country’s financial resources in order to assess how much taxation he could reap from the land to fund a potential war. He therefore commissioned a massive survey of England’s landholdings and financial assets. The monumental resulting document, the Domesday Book, extensively catalogues the kingdom’s taxable goods and records the identities of England’s landholders at the time.

The Domesday Book is significant because it provides a unique and remarkably rich historical source. Its vast amount of information offers historians, geographers, linguists, and even lawyers invaluable insights into the nature of England’s government, landscape, and social structure at the time. The book now survives in two volumes: Great Domesday and Little Domesday.

Source HistoryExtra.