Whats the background to the Domesday Book?
Together with the Koran and the Bible, the Domesday Book has been called one of the three most famous books in the World. Even as recently as 1982 it was used for legal precedent almost 900 years after it was written! The book, commissioned by William the Conqueror, was an attempt to assess the extent of the land and resources being owned in England at the time and the extent of the taxes he could raise. The information collected was recorded by hand in two huge books, in the space of around a year. Unfortunately William died before it was fully completed. 2. What does the Doomsday book contain? The Domesday Book (also sometimes mistakingly called the Doomsday Book) records the landholders, the land owned, their tenants, how many people occupied the land (villagers, smallholders, free men, slaves, and others), the amounts of meadow, woodland, animals, fish and ploughs on the land and other assets such as any buildings present (churches, castles, mills,etc) and the whole purpose of the
