DOMESDAY-BOOK. 



35 



- vey to be made. Some antiquarians supposing that 

 it was merely that each man might know his property, 

 ^'" while others contend that it was for the purpose of esta- 

 blishing the feudal system, and that there was no ne- 

 cessity to cause a survey to be made for the other pur- 

 pose, as that had been effectually done by Alfred. That 

 this opinion is well founded, a reference to the state 

 and circumstances of the kingdom, just before the sur- 

 vey was made, will probably induce most of our readers 

 to admit. Although William, immediately after the 

 conquest, put his Norman barons in possession of the 

 forfeited lands, which they were to hold by the tenure 

 >f military service, yet the landed property, which the 

 Saxon nobility possessed, was not held in this tenure ; 

 the consequence was, that the old military constitution 

 being laid -aside, and no other generally introduced in 

 its stead, the kingdom was nearly defenceless. When 

 therefore an invasion was apprehended from Denmark, 

 William was under the necessity of bringing over a 

 large army of Normans and Britons, the support of 

 whom greatly oppressed the people. As soon as the 

 danger of invasion was over, William resolved to intro- 

 duce the feudal system over the whole kingdom ; and 

 for this purpose he held a great council, as the Saxon 

 Chronicle expresses it, in which he took the advice of 

 his nobility respecting this country, how it should be 

 held, and by what persons. One of the results of this 

 council was the survey contained in Domesday Book ; 

 and as soon as it was completed, the king was attended 

 by all his nobility at Sarum, where the principal land- 

 holders submitted their lands to military tenure, be- 

 came the king's vassals, and did homage and fealty to 

 his person. These circumstances seem to prove what 

 v;is the object of making the survey ; and this view of 

 it is farther confirmed by the nature of the survey it- 

 self. 



In order that it might be faithfully and strictly exe- 

 cuted, some of the king's barons were sent as commis- 

 Mimers into every shire. Their first step was to sum- 

 mon juries in each hundred; these juries were taken 

 from all orders of freemen, from the barons down to 

 the lowest fanners ; and they took an oath that they 

 would inform the commissioners what was the name of 

 each manor, who had occupied it in the time of Ed- 

 wart) the Confessor, and who held it then ; how many 

 hides, how much wood, how much pasture, how much 

 ne.-'dow land it contained ; how many ploughs were 

 in the demesne part of it, and how many in the tenant- 

 ed part ; how many mills, how many fish-ponds or 

 fisheries belonged to it ; what had been added to it, or 

 taken away from it ; what was the value of the whole 

 together, in the time of Edward ; what when granted 

 by the Conqueror ; and what at the time of the survey ; 

 and whether it might be improved or advanced in its 

 value. They were also required to give in a list of all 

 the tenants of every degree ; and to state how much 

 each of them hail held, or did hold at that time, and 

 what was the number of the slaves ; a particular ac- 

 count of the live stock 011 each manor was also to lie 

 returned. When returns respecting all these particu- 

 lars were made, they were methodised in the county, 

 and afterwards transmitted to the king's exchequer. 

 There are two volumes of Domesday Book ; the first 

 is a large folio, finely written on S82 leaves of vellum, 

 in a small plain character, and double columns ; it con- 

 tains 31 counties; the other, which is sometimes called 

 the lesser Domesday Book, is in quarto, written on 450 

 leaves, in single columns, and in a fair large hand ; it 

 contains Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk ; it is supposed 



to contain the original surveys returned from, these Domesilay- 

 counties. In these the live stock is noted. The great- book. 

 er Domesday; compiled from the originals by the offi- S """"Y~~" ' 

 cers of the exchequer, omits the live stock, and gives 

 some other particulars with more brevity. The ancient 

 demesne or landed estate of the crown, as given in 

 Domesday, consisted of 1422 manors, in different coun- 

 ties, besides some scattered lands, and farms, and quit 

 rents, paid out of several other manors. From this sur- 

 vey it appears that the boundaries of the counties were 

 not exactly the same then that they are now, since part 

 of Rutlandshire is included in Northamptonshire ; and 

 parts of Westmoreland, and Lancashire, are included in 

 Yorkshire and_ Cheshire. Northumberland, Cumber- 

 land, and Durham, are not noticed. Different reasons 

 are assigned for this omission : Hume supposes it arose 

 from their wild uncultivated estate; others, because 

 they contained no terra regis ; that the survey was 

 never completed, or that the ravages of war rendered it 

 unsafe. I'inkerton is of opinion, that Northumberland 

 and Durham were omitted, because they were in pos- 

 session of the Danes; and Cumberland, because it be- 

 longed to Scotland ; but William seems to have con- 

 sidered Cumberland as belonging to himself, for when 

 he quarrelled with Malcolm the Third, he gave it to 

 Ranulph de Meschines. London is also omitted in 

 Domesday Book. Although the survey was rigid in 

 almost every instance, yet some of the returns are said to 

 have been partial and false. Ingulphus, Abbot of Croy- 

 land, says, that with respect to his abbey, the lands were 

 under-measured, and under-rated ; and it is said that 

 Ralph Flambard, minister to William Rufus, was so 

 convinced that many of the returns were partial, or 

 erroneous, that he resolved to make another more ri- 

 gorous inquisition ; if this were the case, it never was 

 put in execution. In the orthography of the names, 

 the Norman scribes made many mistakes, setting them 

 down from the Saxon pronunciation. At the end of the 

 Liber Eliensis, (Cott. Lib. Tib. A. 6. 4%) nre some of 

 the original rotuli, whence it was compiled for Cam- 

 bridgeshire ; and in the library of the dean and chapter 

 of Exeter, there is a similar survey of the three western 

 counties, an extract from which is given by Hutching 

 in his History of Dorsetshire. A fac simile, by way of 

 specimen, is given at the end of Morant's Essex ; another 

 in the Registrant honoris de Richmond ; and a third in 

 Nichol's Leicestershire ; that in Hicke's Thesaurus is 

 not well executed. In the Harloeian MS. of Elfrics 

 Saxon Grammar, the Numcrus Hidanim is given more 

 accurately than in the Appendix to Sale's Hist. Angl. 

 Script. That part of Domesday which relates to Wilt- 

 shire has been published in English by Mr Wyndham ; 

 and that relating to Leicestershire by Mr Nichols. Mr 

 Bawdwen published " Dom-boc," a translation of 

 Domesday for Yorkshire, and such parts of Westmore- 

 land and Cumberland as are contained in the survey ; 

 likewise Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, 

 and Lincolnshire, with an introduction, glossary, and 

 indices ; but the most complete illustration of Domes- 

 day was published by Mr Kelham, under the title of 

 " Domesday Illustrated." In 1777, it was determined 

 by government to print the whole of it, and after much 

 delay, from various causes, this great work is now com- 

 pleted ; the commissioners of public records have like- 

 wise printed four indices to it. It is still considered 

 as of very high and unquestioned authority, -or the 

 establishment of tenures, and in the article of Taillage. 

 Blackstone says, " whether a manor be held in ancient 

 demesne or not, shall be tried by the record of Dome*. 



