The Domesday Book....
The 1,000 year-old Domesday Book is now available online. My Grandmother's family is one of the landowners listed on the ancient registry.
The Domesday Book was compiled on the orders of William I, who became England's king when he defeated the Saxon king, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In 1085, he ordered a survey to determine the taxable value of his kingdom.All kingdoms need taxes, so this exercise was designed to ensure that the sovereign got the taxes due.
Officials fanned out across England to assess who owned the land and what was on it. The result is a detailed record that lists more than 13,000 places. Farmland, woodland, meadows, pastures, mills and fisheries are enumerated; there are estimates of the number of freemen, indentured peasants and slaves on each estate.
I always thought that it was the Doomsday Book, not the Domesday Book. The name of the book is a biblical reference to the last judgement. The end of time is doomsday but they slightly changed the name to Domesday for some reason.
posted by glenzo @ 8/06/2006 11:33:00 AM
1 Comments:
Early English spelling was all over the place. Thus "dome" = "doom." Supposedly, one of Glenzo's ancestors was mentioned on the Domesday Book. His grandmother's maiden name was "Dansie," a variation on de Anesi which became Dauntsey. William de Anesi came to England in 1066 with William the Conquerer. Old Dad
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