The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-23 00:00:00

DOOMSDAY BOOK.

Domesday Book, one of the most ancient ant
memorable Records of England, tie the Register from which
Judgment was to be Oren upon the value' tenure, and services
of Lands therein ; and it has been moreefectuany preserved
by being printed with a general dissertation, Index, &c., per-
sulibt to the orders, and ender the inspection, of the Royal Re-
cord Commissioners. The Commissioner" introduction is ex-
ceedingly interesting. Domesday Book appears to have been
known by various other names, such as Romulus Wintonim—
Seriptura Thesauri Regis—Liber de Wintonia, and Liber Re-
is. Sir Henry Spelman adds Liber JUdiciarius, &c. Among
Dr. Rawlinson's manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Ox-
ford, is a fragment of a survey of all the manors belonging
to the Deanery of SI Paul's, taken in 1101, and called Doniis.
day Radalphi de Diceto. Diceto was the Dean' under whose
'directions it was made. A manuscript note eif Bishop Kennett,
also in the same library, in a copy of Cowers I.Oe Interpreter.
quotes the Domesday of the Nuns of Haliwell. This last, the
Record Comniissioners say, it is probable was only it Leiger
Book of the monastery.
The exact time of William the First undertaking the survey
is differently stated by historians. The Red Book of the Ex-
chequer seems to have been erroneously quoted, as fixing the
time of entrance upon it in 1080 ; it being merely stated in that
record (in which the original Dialogns de Scarearlo is
that the work was undertaken at a time subsequent to th found),
elotal
reduction of the island to William's authority. From the me-
morial of the completion of this survey at the end of the second
volume, it is evident that it was finished, in 1086. Matthew
Paris, Robert of Glocester, the Annals ref Waverley, and the
"Chronicles of Bermondsey," give the year 1083 as the date of
the record. Henry of Huntingdon places it in 108.1 ; the
Saxon Chronicle in 1005 e Bromton, sizneenaf Durham, &c.
in 1086 ; and the Ypodigma &c: in 10117. • .. a . . „
Ingulphus affirms, that the survey was niaito in mutation of
. the policy of Alfred, who, at the time lie divided,the kingdom
into counties,. hundreds, and tithiegs' had an " inquisition"
taken, and digeSted into a Register, which was called. front the
place in which it was repoeited, the " Roll of Winchester."
Bishop . Kennett, in his Parochial Antiquities, states, that
Alfred's. Register had the name of Dame.boe, from which the'
name of Domesday-book was only a corruption. This may,
perhaps, serve as a clue to the explanation of the name ; thought
the Dtsm-boc was in reality the code of Saxon laws. It is
noticed as such in the laws of Edward the Elder, and mare
particularly in those of Xtlielstan. The .S.a.ron C'hroniele fur-
nished a passage,: under the year 1085, which enters minutely
into the motives for the formation of this survey ;_lied which, if
correct, also fixes the time of its coinnaneement. to that year.
By the completion of this survey, William I. acquired an
exact knowledge of the possessiotui Of the Crown. It affirmedhim the names of' the landholders it furnished him with the
means of ascertaining the military strength of the country ;and
it pointed out the possibility of messing the revenue in some
metes; and of lessening the demands. of the tax collettors in'
others.. ,It was moreover a register of appeal for those whose
tides in their roert mi eheght, b disp
Puted. Sir w. Binh_
stall* hie; obseprvepdset y hatafrom tTodigious slaughter of
Englieh Nobility. at the batik 6t. -II nstirggi 'and the fruitless
insurrections of those who survived, such numerous forfeitures
had accrued, that William was enahltl to reward his Nor-
man followers with very large. and extensive 'possessions.—
Dahmer, Ingulph, anti Henry of Iluatingdon, complain hea-
vily of the extirpation of the 'English from offices of honour,
power, and emolument in Church and State. Yet, continue
the Record Commissioners, this must have been the natural
consequence of such a change as that which was occasioned by
tt.l.tr). cases with coneidtrable
the arrival of the Normans.. The soldiers and ministerial de-
pendents of the Conqueror were to be rewarded ; end we cannot
vender to see them fortn the larger portion of the tenants in
"ct-aapinittic.gWtheeirfianncicitletnetepahutrs
imcheosualy:tilnOulPakteriex, however, still re-
d Westminster. And that the value
additions from the Conqueror himself.- of the importarce which
iheroughly„pereeived at a time but a
William himself attached to the completion of' the survey,we have
sufficient evidence at the close of a. grant which he zuade soon
afterwards.- to the Abbey,
of the gieat survey was
little subsequent to the ." emilee''t, we Zed
from Itobertus
if there were originally but one copy, can-
Mortensis, who informs' us it was imitated in Normandy by
Henry!!. -
it was kept with the Kingie
The exact time of the remoaal of this record from Winches-
ter to Westminster,
not now be ascertained.
thesea
l Royal atlhe Seat.sia 1i is described at to very early period
in the Dialog us de See-taw-it), as the inseparable companion of
e ofll ithllerTe7l'llyineltuert. t, ,'in.the Exchequer, under
three locks and lays, in the•charge of the Auditor,- the Chem,
berlains, and Deputy Chamberlains of the Exchequer; till in.
1806 it was depositol among the valuable records in the Chap-
ier-hoese, where it now remain:.