Inside Domesday

Page 1 of 5

• 1. The culmination of the Conquest
• 2. The Survey
• 3. The Danish threat
• 4. The content of the Domesday Book
• 5. Land transfer
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The culmination of the Conquest

The Domesday survey and Domesday Book have generally been seen as the culmination of the Norman Conquest, and show the results of a great investigation, commissioned by William the Conqueror, of the lands over which he now ruled.

He had it surveyed by teams of commissioners, who toured the country taking statements and hearing land pleas, before compiling all the information they had amassed into Domesday Book. This view is based upon the seminal analysis of Domesday Book conducted by VH Galbraith in 1967, and breaks down into the following phases:

• England was divided into seven great circuits, within which tenants-in-chief supplied details of their lands.
• Sessions of the shire court were held under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners for each circuit. These checked, shire hundred by shire hundred, the claims being made by taking sworn testimonies from the jurors of the courts.
• In areas of special difficulty, an early draft was made: eg The Inquisitiones Eliensis et Cantabrigensis, or Exon Domesday, provides two different examples of the way this was done - though the terms of the Inquisitio bear no relation to any part of Domesday Book (the nearest is Circuit 6 for Huntingdonshire).
• The evidence collected was sent to Winchester, where it was compiled into 'Little Domesday'.
• The final draft, the 'Exchequer' or 'Great Domesday' was achieved by discarding most of the detail and preserving only those facts likely to be useful to the administrators.
• This draft was scheduled to be presented to King William at the Great Convocation of Salisbury, at Old Sarum, on 1 August 1085, at which all the magnates of the land would swear allegiance to him. However, it was not ready in time, and a copy of Little Domesday is believed to have been used instead.

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Published: 2001-07-01