Domesday Book
Medieval English survey
The Domesday Book is the comprehensive survey of English landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
It recorded who owned what property, its value, and what taxes were owed—creating a detailed snapshot of medieval England's economy.
The name suggests finality: like the Last Judgment, its records were beyond appeal.
The property boundaries date back to the Domesday Book.
Landed aristocratic residence
- tenant-in-chiefDirect royal landholder
- vassalLand-holding sworn subordinate
- fiefGranted feudal estate
- lordshipNoble rank or domain
homage · fealty · serfdom · villein · demesne · seigneurial · overlord · knight-service
Official population count
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- valuationAssessment of monetary worth
- enumerationSequential listing of items
- inventoryCatalog of held assets
holdings · tenants · ploughland · livestock · manors · villages · settlements · demesne
Original text before publication
- codexAncient bound manuscript
- scribeManual document copier
- chronicleOrdered historical record
- archivesStored historical documents
registry · documentation · folios · entries · commissioners · returns · abbreviations · Latin
manor
Landed aristocratic residence
- tenant-in-chiefDirect royal landholder
- vassalLand-holding sworn subordinate
- fiefGranted feudal estate
lordship · homage · fealty · serfdom · villein · demesne · seigneurial · overlord · knight-service · serf
census
Official population count
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- valuationAssessment of monetary worth
- enumerationSequential listing of items
inventory · holdings · tenants · ploughland · livestock · manors · villages · settlements · demesne · acreage
manuscript
Original text before publication
archives · registry · documentation · folios · entries · commissioners · returns · abbreviations · Latin · vellum
geld
Castrate male animal
- levyCompulsory government charge
- assessmentFormal evaluation of worth
- tributeOffering of respect
revenue · dues · renders · customs · valuation · exaction · liability · tenths · collection · obligation
- British historyWilliam the Conqueror, Victorian era, Elizabethan era, English Civil War, Tudor era
- Medieval Europekings, queens, knights, castles, castle
- historical documentsDeclaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, Emancipation Proclamation, Federalist Papers
- historical recordsdiary, census record, annual reviews, letter, government records
- Medieval Englandking, kings, castle, castles, knight
- 11th CenturyBattle of Hastings, Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror, First Crusade, Bayeux Tapestry
Domesday BookMagna Carta
Charter curbing royal authority
Code of Hammurabi · Justinian Code · Ten Commandments · legal code · US Constitution