New research has cast light on how and why the iconic Domesday Book was created. The study shows that the work of the medieval scribes was so efficient and sophisticated that they accomplished what a University of Oxford professor calls “one of the most remarkable feats of government in the recorded history of Britain.” The information taken from the survey served a variety of purposes over the years and you could say that the Domesday is a lasting medieval database.
What is the Famous Domesday Book?
The iconic Domesday Book is a 913-page-long tome that is the earliest public record in Britain. It was completed following a huge land and landholding survey that was commissioned by William I, aka William the Conqueror, in 1085. Veronica Parkes explains William the Conqueror’s motivation behind the project, writing “War was an expensive business and William needed some way to pay his soldiers who had fought for him. He also needed to know how much financial damage his invasion had done to the recently conquered country. So, he conducted a survey to determine the wealth and assets of the people in England.”