What does Domesday Book tell us?

Enquiry question

Investigate the source

1. Source 1: Extract from Great Domesday

   1. 

      Transcript

      IN PRESTETUNE HUND.
      Ipse Wills ten PICEHA in dnio . Herald tenuit . T.R.E.
      Tc se desd p LX . hid . m p . XL . Tra . e qt XX . car.
      In dnio. VIII . car. CXLX.III . uilli XL.V . bord cu
      qt XX II . car . Ibi aeccla .VI . serui . X . berquarij.
      Ibi qt XX IIII . ac pti . silua. c . porc.
      In Lewes . XXVI . hagae . de . XIII . solid.
      De hac tra ten Ricoard VII . hid . miles ej . I . hid dim.
      In dnio hnt .II. car . cu . II . bord.
      T.R.E.ualeb tot . c .lib . post . L . lib .m . qt XX . lib.

      Translation

      In PRESTON Hundred
      William holds PATCHAM himself, in lordship. Earl Harold held it
      before 1066. Then it answered for 60 hides; now for 40.
      Land for 80 ploughs. In lordship 8 ploughs;
      163 villagers and 45 smallholders with 82 ploughs;
      A church; 6 slaves; 10 shepherds; meadow, 84 acres;
      woodland, 100 pigs; 26 sites in Lewes at 13s.
      Richard holds 7 hides of this land; and a man-at-arms of his 1/2 hides.
      In lordship they have 2 ploughs, with
      2 smallholders.
      Total value before 1066 £100; later £50; now £80.

   Examine the source

   • What is a ‘hide’?
     • a type of peasant
     • a shelter
     • a measurement of land
     • a place where you cannot be seen
   • How many oxen are there in the village? Remember each plough is pulled by a team of eight oxen.
   • How many people live in this village?
   • Make a list of all the people in the village, starting with those who hold the most land and ending with the poorest members of the village.
   • Name two jobs, apart from ploughing, that this source reveals.
   • Work out the number of acres of land in the village. Remember one hide = 120 acres; an acre is roughly the size of a football pitch.
   • What do you think the woodland was used for?
   • What was the value of the land when William the Conqueror became king in 1066? What had happened to its value by 1086?
   • Think about your answers to the last question. Why do you think King William was interested in knowing the value of the land?

Extension activities

• Draw a map or diagram to show what the source reveals about landownership in Patcham.
• Write a short drama about the visit from William I’s commissioner to Patcham.

Background information

Norman Conquest

On 5 January 1066, Edward the Confessor, the King of England, died. Harold Godwin was crowned King of England. Two other men claimed that the throne belonged to them: Harold Hardrada, King of Norway; the other was William Duke of Normandy. Harold Hardrada invaded the north of England but the King managed to defeat his army. Shortly after, William – had landed in the south of England. On 14 October 1066, the English and Norman armies clashed in a battle just outside Hastings, in which Harold died – legend has it that King Harold was shot in the eye by an arrow! William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066.

William took all the land and important jobs in the Government and Church away from the Saxons and divided it up amongst his Norman friends. He built castles to make the English feel so scared that they would not dare even to think about causing trouble. By 1085, William had a shortage of money and also many Normans had begun to disagree amongst themselves over the land they had been given as a reward for helping conquer England. William wanted to settle these disputes once and for all. Thus William decided to order a survey.

Domesday survey

The survey would list all the land in England. It would list who was looking after each area, what lands they had, and which other people lived there. Importantly, the survey would find out how much tax-money William could get from this land. Official government inspectors were sent around the country to gather information. Fixed questions were asked, such as what the place was called, who owned it, how many men lived there, how many cows were there and so on. For each property, the questions were asked three times to see what changes had happened over time so that the king would know about the lands in Edward the Confessor’s time (before 1066), who William I had given it to and what it was worth then, and finally what the situation was in 1086 at the time of the survey.  All the results of these questions were handwritten into the Domesday Book by scribes. The people in England spoke Saxon English and the Norman inspectors spoke French and Latin. A jury, which included the local important men such as the village priest and reeve who could understand the different languages, had to decide whether their neighbours were telling the truth.

Domesday Book contents

Great Domesday contains most of the counties of England and was written by one scribe and checked by a second. Little Domesday, which contains the information for Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, was probably written first and is the work of at least six scribes. Domesday Book describes almost all of England and more than 13,000 places are mentioned in it. Most of them still survive today. London, Winchester, County Durham and Northumberland were not included in King William’s survey. In spite of these omissions, the survey gives a wealth of information, as well as highlighting that a lot of property had been destroyed by William’s invasion in 1066. Most of the land originally owned by 2000 Saxons belonged to 200 Norman barons in 1086, showing just how powerful the Norman lords had become!

Useful links

opendomesday.org

Open Domesday

A free online version of Domesday Book.