Product Description

Domesday Book has been described as 'the most valuable piece of antiquity possessed by any nation.' (David Hume) But a complete translation has never been available before at an affordable price. Penguin's edition will change that. Compiled in a matter of months in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror, Domesday quickly established itself as document of immense legal importance. It was last consulted for legal precedent in 1982. It is also the most remarkable portrait of England in thelate eleventh century. The publication of a complete translation of Great and Little Domesday is already being eagerly anticipated by historians. There are advance quotes from Norman Davies, Michael Wood, Roy Strong and Antonia Fraser.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17478 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-30
• Original language: Latin
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1456 pages

Review
'Domesday Book is THE book of English history... A must for scholars and history buffs everywhere.' Michael Wood

Sir Roy Strong
'Indispensable. The only census of England before 1801'

Professor Norman Davies
'A unique monument to the age ... its brilliance lies in the detail of about 45,000 landholdings in 14,000 named English locations'

Customer Reviews

What a wonderful and fascinating resource!
This is the first time that the entire contents of both Little Domesday and Great Domesday have been available in one affordable volume, and what a wonderful thing Penguin have done! This is a translation by a group of the greatest Domesday scholars, and provides a powerful insight into the society of medieval Britain, through a document unique in the world in it's scope and detail. It is possible to look beyond the numbers, and gain real insight into how an individual, or a community was doing. By examining the economy, landscapes and early settlements, it paints a picture of what sort of people lived on this island 900 years ago. This is not a book that anyone will read from cover to cover, but rather you can open any page and enjoy history in bite-size pieces.

Still a vivid and authoritative guide, so long after it's creation, it is a book that I will be dipping into for many years, and I am sure that it will be a source of great pleasure to all historians, amateur and otherwise. Penguin Classics are to be congratulated for a truly worthy (and fascinating) publication.

Domesday now within the grasp of everyone .
There are few historical documents now over 900 years old that are frequently quoted in courts of law to clarifie points of law.

The Domesday volumes,Great Domesday and Little Domesday as they are known are kept within a large 14Century chest at the Public Records Office at Kew in London.On prior arrangement and a fee you are allowed to examine under strict supervision the contents of either volume but unless you are a scholar in early Latin their velum pages will mean little.

In the early 1980s a most impressive hardback series totalling every county surveyed by Williams officials known as The Philimore Collection became available but at a considerable cost.I know because i bought the Hereford volume with its gorgeous red cover to help in my research of churches mentioned in the Hereford area during the Elevnth Century.

The Philimore collection was magnificent but had one major flaw in that it was aimed at the accademic scholar whose grasp of early Latin enhanced their understanding of the text.

Roll forward twenty or so years and we are presented with what must be the Holy Grail for those stydying 11thCentury history.
Penguin have compiled the entire Domesday both Great and Small into one most impressive 1436 soft back or hardback volume.

The time it must have taken those involved to translate the early text into 21st Century language must have been collasal.What we have here is plain English that we can all understand but still this is hardly Harry Potter.Your interest must lie in discovering what 11thCentury life in Williams kingdom was really like.

I find its contents trully fasinating,the information on how many people and properties were at Oxford and Gloucester in 1086 aswell as how many oxen and slaves ploughed the land in each and every village thereabout is history at your fingertips.

The most compelling thing is that the many place names especially in the Hereford and Gloucestershire areas are still here over 900 years later and with some, the population has little changed apart from lack of oxen and your occasional slave or Housecarl tending the land.

We have our regular census every now and then but really there is no historical document in any country throughout the world to rival THE DOMESDAY survey.It was of its time but the insight into a way of life and being is relevant today.

Until you familiarise yourself with its contents you cannot imagine the pleasure it will give those trully interested in early English history.

If you set sail from the port of Chester without the permission of the crown everybody found onboard the vessel was fined 100 shillings.

Likewise if you refused to gather arms upon request to venture into Wales to give the Taffies a bloodynose you were fined 40 shillings.

These are only two of the most interesting aspects of everyday life in the city of Chester under Williams rule.

This was serious money in the 11C more than a years wages for the majority of peasants or those who worked the land.

Talking of Wales,Williams officials didnot include it in the servey mainly because under the tenure of the Lords Marcher in South and Mid Wales he roughly knew the revenue due to him.

The county of Herefordshire is as close as Domesday came to Wales with certain villages especially Kilpeck famous for its magnificent 12c Norman church were directly on the English Welsh border.

Kilpeck was then known as Chipitee but Streton Sugwas,Shobdon,Eardisley and Castle Frome all made famous by the magnificent Kilpeck school of Norman architecture are right there in the Herefordshire county of Domesday.

Remarkably these two counties of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire show remarkably little change in overall place name index in Domesday.

Atleast 80% of place names mentioned in Domesday for these two counties still remain and the parish boundaries have not changed much either.

This is prabably not a document you will read from cover to cover but certainly one you can pick up again and again to learn what life was really like over 900 years ago.

What other document of similar antiquity can provide a modern reader with so much relevant information.

Domesday predates Magna Carta by well over 150 years both are just as relevant to our legal system to this very day and thats why both are often quoted in our Courts of Law.


It has taken years to materialise and is now available for all to read,its contents will enthrall or disintrest you but you cannot denie its impressiveness,there are few books on my bookshelf as thick or as compelling to read as this one.Its price is so impressive that it would make the ideal gift to anyone interested in history but here is a book that now is easy to read and follow and thankfully has a glossary at the back to explain what a Housecarl is.

treasure
I wouldn't venture reviewing the contents of the Domesday Book !
I was simply pleased to hold a monument which is mentioned in every book on medieval England, some treasure chest which can now be opened at will. Though the survey it contains is probably of far more interest to a professional historian, one does quickly get an idea of the formidable takeover of the anglo-saxon economy by a foreign aristocracy over such a short period. The Norman Barons appear to have made a good return on investment after a rather devastating invasion, having taken ownership of every economic unit of estimatable wealth. Still, most readers will simply be delighted to check their favorite town or village has been surveyed 900 years ago.