METHOD OF COMPILATION n 



lord of whom it was holden. But the fact that the Cam- 

 bridgeshire jurors were asked only, " Who holds the estate ? " 

 and not, " Of whom is it holden ? " suggests that when the 

 instructions to the Commissioners were given, the Conqueror 

 had no intention of compiling a fee-book. It is, however, 

 very probable that when the statistics were being digested, 

 some official saw that the inquisitions provided the King 

 with these "clues as to the personal nexus of the various 

 tenements," and that the digest was prepared accordingly. 



But geld was not the only income accruing to the King. 

 He had estates of his own in every county, and he wanted a 

 record of the possible income from these estates, so that he 

 might have a check on his sheriffs. The pleas of the counties 

 and the hundreds local litigation produced certain sums, 

 and far larger sums were forthcoming from the counties and 

 the boroughs ; and Sir J. B. Phear suggested at the Domesday 

 Commemoration that the main object of Domesday Book was 

 to afford to the officials of the Exchequer a means of checking 

 the sheriffs' accounts. 1 



In the following pages we shall proceed on the assumption 

 that Domesday Book was compiled primarily for fiscal purposes 

 to show the Conqueror the proportion of geld payable from 

 each estate, and the person liable for the payment ; and that 

 its fiscal purpose colours every page of the record. 



3. METHOD OF COMPILATION 



The more one studies the statistics preserved in Domesday 

 Book, the greater is the surprise that they all could have 

 been collected in the few months that elapsed between the 

 Gloucester gemot of Christmas, 1085, and the Salisbury gemot 

 of Michaelmas, 1086. Mr. C. S. Taylor compares this short 

 period with the time taken in the compilation of the Return 

 of Owners of Land, which was ordered by the House of 



1 D. S., I. 35. 



