Domesday Book
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Domesday Book (also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester), was written between 1085 and 1086. It was a record of every property in England.
King William the Conqueror said he owned all the land in England. He let some of his friends and supporters have big areas of land but wanted rent money from them. The Domedsay Book was a record of every farm, village and house so that he knew how much rent he should get.
The Domesday book gave the names of King William's friends and even listed the number of pigs on a piece of land. But it was not like a modern census. It did not give the names of the ordinary people. It only said how many people lived in a place in case the men were needed to fight in the army.
[change] Other websites
- Domesday Book, from The National Archives (UK). Searchable text and page scans (complete).
- Focus on Domesday, from Learning Curve. Annotated sample page.
- Domesday Book, an article from History Magazine.
