What does domesday book mean? This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word domesday book Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Domesday Book, Doomsday Book(noun) record of a British census and land survey in 1085-1086 ordered by William the Conqueror Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Domesday Book(ProperNoun) A record of the great survey of England carried out in 1086 for William the Conqueror. Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Domesday Book Domesday Book, now held at The National Archives, Kew, in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086.

The survey was executed for William I of England: "While spending the Christmas time of 1085 in Gloucester, William had deep speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire to find out what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth". One of the main purposes of the survey was to determine who held what and what taxes had been liable under Edward the Confessor; the judgment of the Domesday assessors was final—whatever the book said about who held the material wealth or what it was worth was the law, and there was no appeal. It was written in Latin, although there were some vernacular words inserted for native terms with no previous Latin equivalent, and the text was highly abbreviated. Richard FitzNigel, writing around the year 1179, stated that the book was known by the English as "Domesday", that is the Day of Judgment: In August 2006, a limited online version of Domesday Book was made available by the United Kingdom's National Archives site, charging users £2 per page to view the manuscript.

In 2011, the Open Domesday site made the manuscript freely available for the first time. A survey approaching the scope and extent of the Domesday Book was not attempted until the Return of Owners of Land, 1873, which presented the first subsequent complete picture of the distribution of landed property in the British Isles, and is thus sometimes referred to as the "Modern Domesday". The Nuttall Encyclopedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Domesday Book the record, in 2 vols., of the survey of all the lands of England made in 1081-1086 at the instance of William the Conqueror for purposes of taxation; the survey included the whole of England, except the four northern counties and part of Lancashire, and was made by commissioners appointed by the king, and sent to the different districts of the country, where they held courts, and registered everything on evidence; it is a valuable document.

Numerology The numerical value of domesday book in Chaldean Numerology is: 2 Pythagorean Numerology Domesday Book - definition of Domesday Book by The Free Dictionary Domesday Book - definition of Domesday Book by The Free Dictionary (do͞omz′dā′, dōmz′-) also Dooms·day Book (do͞omz′-) n. The written record of a census and survey of English landowners and their property made by order of William the Conqueror in 1085-1086. [From Middle English domesday, doomsday; see doomsday.] Domesday Book Doomsday Book n (Historical Terms) history the record of a survey of the land of England carried out by the commissioners of William I in 1086 Domes′day (or Dooms′day) Book` n. a record of a survey of the lands of England made by order of William the Conqueror about 1086, giving ownership, extent, value, etc., of the properties.

Domesday Book A 1086 survey of land holdings in England initiated by William the Conqueror. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1. Domesday Book - record of a British census and land survey in 1085-1086 ordered by William the Conqueror Translations Domesday Book [ˈduːmzdeɪˌbʊk] N the Domesday Book → el Domesday Book (libro del registro catastral realizado en Inglaterra en 1086) Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: William I References in classic literature ? And he made every one of them tell him a tale every night; and he kept that up till he had hogged a thousand and one tales that way, and then he put them all in a book, and called it Domesday Book -- which was a good name and stated the case.

Murals to create pictoral story of neighbourhood's past Peter Tither, pictured, an ex-pat who lives in the South of France, paid PS2,000 for the right to be the new Lord of Little Barr, Birmingham, but the manor does not exist apart from a forgotten footnote in the Domesday Book.

Heading off to Ledbury INSIDE 4 Simple Mind's Jim Kerr fast-tracks over four great decades 14 Check out the opening credits of Whitley Bay Film Festival 23 Read about South Tyneside's answer to the Domesday Book 26 It might be Fringe first but The Stand cuts a close second 36 Top tips for Reflect Awards entries REGULARS 6 Big Picture: Vintage Trouble photo earns our applause 11 Readers' Lives: Frances Spalding reveals what's in the frame 18 New Music: Local bands play big part in Split Festival programme 20 Books: Durham's Dan Vyleta is out to thrill 21 My iPod: Rosie Ward's toe-tapping choices 24 Classical: Offerings from our young musical talents 28 10 Things: To breeze through this August 54 Final Say: Ciaran Jeremiah says it with Feeling DOMESDAY BOOK OF WINCHESTER HISTORIC ARCHIVES SURVEY OF ENGLAND 1086 HISTORY DAY OF RECKONING WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR DOMESDAY BOOK 1086 - DAY of RECKONING HOME | BIOLOGY | FILMS | GEO

GRAPHY | HISTORY | INDEX | INVESTORS | MUSIC | NEWS | SOLAR BOATS | SPORT The Domesday Book (also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester) was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England.

We are long overdue for a similar work to document life on the Planet Earth. The technology and resources are available to be able to accurately (more accurately than William's Domesday Book) record the current state of play on Earth . This is a potentially important work since if we cannot measure something we cannot quantify the effect we may be having on other natural resources, weather patterns and incoming energy . We are a force of nature and a product of our environment at the same time, hence our impact on our place of residence can no longer be ignored, nor the end result if we do not take stock. Such a survey would need to take on board other factors, such as the oceans, forests and ice shelves, each with its vital role buffering seasonal and orbital changes, which in turn affect life on Earth. Nelson Kruschandl - Wake up Call We would thus know how much oxygen is produced, from where and how much carbon dioxide is made and can be absorbed naturally. This could be cross referenced with the consumption of natural resources and the use of these resources for each person as applicable, given their geographical location and standard of living.

Assuming allowance is made for each person on Earth to enjoy a minimum standard of living, which at the moment is not evenly distributed, and if this can be applied to the territory, as in the ability of the land area to support life sustainably, we could discover the natural balance for the Earth and strive to adjust our habits accordingly. If we do not, we will be fueling the flames for more disputes and wars , which is already in progress with oil , even if we choose to pretend this is not so. At the end of the day, our planet can only support so much Human life, even if properly managed. The important thing to know is how much Human life is supportable, without upsetting the delicate balance, to know if we are caught in a spiral of growth that will inevitably exhaust our resources. At this time we are spending more energy per person than we can afford. Food for thought. NK HISTORY The Domesday survey was similar to a census by a government of today. William the Conqueror needed information about the country he had just acquired so he could administer it. While spending Christmas of 1085 in Gloucester, William "had deep speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire ...

to find out ... what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth." (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) One of the main purposes of the survey was to find out who owned what so they could be taxed on it, and the judgment of the assessors was final - whatever the book said about who owned the property, or what it was worth, was the law, and there was no appeal. It was written in Latin, although there were some vernacular words inserted for native terms with no previous Latin equivalent and the text was highly abbreviated. The name Domesday comes from the Old English word dom, meaning accounting or reckoning. Thus domesday, or doomsday, is literally a day of reckoning, meaning that a lord takes account of what is owed by his subjects. Medieval Christians believed that in the Last Judgment as recorded in Revelation, Christ would carry out a similar accounting of one's deedsï¿½hence the term doomsday also referred to this eschatological event. In August 2006, a complete online version of Domesday Book was made available for the first time by the UK's National Archives. IIII. The Land of St.

Peter of Westminster In ï¿½Ossulstoneï¿½ Hundred In the vill in which St. Peterï¿½s Church is situated [Westminster] the abbot of the same place holds 13ï¿½ hides. There is land for 11 ploughs. To the demesne belongs 9 hides and 1 virgate, and there are 4 ploughs. The villeins have 6 ploughs, and there could be 1 plough more. There are 9 villeins each on 1 virgate and 1 villein on 1 hide, and 9 villeins on each half a virgate and 1 cottar on 5 acres, and 41 cottars who pay 40 shillings a year for their gardens. [There is] Meadow for 11 ploughs, pasture for the livestock of the vill, woodland for 100 pigs, and 25 houses of the abbotï¿½s knights and other men who pay 8 shillings a year. In all it is worth ï¿½10; when received, the same; TRE ï¿½12.

This manor belonged and belongs to the demesne of St. Peterï¿½s Church, Westminster. Domesday Book Domesday Book is really two independent works. One, known as Little Domesday, covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The other, Great Domesday, covers the rest of England, except for lands in the north that would later become Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland and County Durham (because some of these lands were under Scottish control at the time). There are also no surveys of London , Winchester and some other towns. The omission of these two major cities is probably due to their size and complexity. Cumberland is missing because it was not conquered until some time after the survey and the Prince-Bishop William of St. Carilef had the exclusive right to tax Durham; the omission of the other counties has not been fully explained. Parts of the North East of England were covered by the 1183 'Boldon Book', which listed those areas liable to tax by the Bishop of Durham. Despite its name, Little Domesday is actually larger ï¿½ as it is far more detailed, down to numbers of livestock.

It has been suggested that Little Domesday represents a first attempt, and that it was found impossible, or at least inconvenient, to complete the work on the same scale for Great Domesday. For both volumes, the contents of the returns were entirely rearranged and classified according to fiefs, rather than geographically. Instead of appearing under the Hundreds and townships, holdings appear under the names of the local barons, i.e.. those who held the lands directly of the crown in fee. In each county, the list opened with the holdings of the king himself (which had possibly formed the subject of separate inquiry); then came those of the churchmen and religious houses; next were entered those of the lay tenants-in-chief (barons); and last of all those of women, of the king's serjeants (servientes), of the few English thegns who retained land, and so forth. In some counties, one or more principal towns formed the subject of a separate section; in some the clamores (disputed titles to land) were similarly treated separately. This principle applies more specially to the larger volume; in the smaller one the system is more confused, the execution less perfect.

Apart from the wholly rural portions, which constitute its bulk, Domesday contains entries of interest concerning most of the towns, which were probably made because of their bearing on the fiscal rights of the crown therein. These include fragments of custumals (older customary agreements), records of the military service due, of markets, mints, and so forth. From the towns, from the counties as wholes, and from many of its ancient Lordships, the crown was entitled to archaic dues in kind, such as honey . The information of most general interest found in the great record is that on political, personal, ecclesiastical and social history, which only occurs sporadically and, as it were, by accident. Much of this was used by E. A. Freeman for his work on the Norman Conquest. The survey From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it is known that the planning for the survey was conducted in 1085, and from the colophon of the book it is known that the survey was completed in 1086. It is not known when exactly Domesday Book was compiled, but the entire work appears to have been copied out by one person.

Each county was visited by a group of royal officers (legati), who held a public inquiry, probably in the great assembly known as the county court, which was attended by representatives of every township as well as of the local lords. The unit of inquiry was the Hundred (a subdivision of the county, which then was an administrative entity), and the return for each Hundred was sworn to by twelve local jurors, half of them English and half of them Normans. What is believed to be a full transcript of these original returns is preserved for several of the Cambridgeshire Hundreds, and is of great illustrative importance. The Inquisitio Eliensis, the Exon Domesday (so called from the preservation of the volume at Exeter), which covers Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and the second volume of Domesday Book, also all contain the full details which the original returns supplied. Through comparison of what details are recorded in which counties, six "circuits" can be determined.

Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire (Exeter Domesday) Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire ï¿½ the Marches Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire Purpose For the object of the survey, we have three sources of information: The passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which tells us why it was ordered: "After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land; how it was occupied, and by what sort of men.

Then sent he his men over all England into each shire; commissioning them to find out "How many hundreds of hides were in the shire, what land the king himself had, and what stock upon the land; or, what dues he ought to have by the year from the shire." Also he commissioned them to record in writing, "How much land his archbishops had, and his diocesan bishops, and his abbots, and his earls;" and though I may be prolix and tedious, "What, or how much, each man had, who was an occupier of land in England, either in land or in stock, and how much money it were worth." So very narrowly, indeed, did he commission them to trace it out, that there was not one single hide, nor a yard of land, nay, moreover (it is shameful to tell, though he thought it no shame to do it), not even an ox, nor a cow , nor a swine was there left, that was not set down in his writ.

And all the recorded particulars were afterwards brought to him." The list of questions which the jurors were asked, as preserved in the Inquisitio Eliensis The contents of Domesday Book and the allied records mentioned above. Although these can by no means be reconciled in every detail, it is now generally recognized that the primary object of the survey was to ascertain and record the fiscal rights of the king. These were mainly; the national land-tax (geldum), paid on a fixed assessment, certain miscellaneous dues, and the proceeds of the crown lands. After a great political convulsion such as the Norman conquest, and the wholesale confiscation of landed estates which followed it, it was in William's interest to make sure that the rights of the crown, which he claimed to have inherited, had not suffered in the process. More especially was this the case as his Norman followers were disposed to evade the liabilities of their English predecessors. The successful trial of Odo de Bayeux at Penenden Heath less than a decade after the conquest was one example of the growing discontent at the Norman land-grab that had occurred in the years following the invasion.

The survey has since been viewed in the context that William required certainty and a definitive reference point as to property holdings across the nation so that it might be used as evidence in disputes and purported authority for crown ownership. The Domesday survey therefore recorded the names of the new holders of lands and the assessments on which their tax was to be paid. But it did more than this; by the king's instructions it endeavoured to make a national valuation list, estimating the annual value of all the land in the country, (1) at the time of Edward the Confessor's death, when the new owners received it, (3) at the time of the survey, and further, it reckoned, by command, the potential value as well. It is evident that William desired to know the financial resources of his kingdom, and it is probable that he wished to compare them with the existing assessment, which was one of considerable antiquity, though there are traces that it had been occasionally modified. The great bulk of Domesday Book is devoted to the somewhat arid details of the assessment and valuation of rural estates, which were as yet the only important source of national wealth.

After stating the assessment of the manor, the record sets forth the amount of arable land, and the number of plough teams (each reckoned at eight oxen) available for working it, with the additional number (if any) that might be employed; then the river-meadows, woodland, pasture, fisheries (i.e. weirs in the streams), water-mills, salt-pans (if by the sea) and other subsidiary sources of revenue; the peasants are enumerated in their several classes; and finally the annual value of the whole, past and present, is roughly estimated. It is obvious that, both in its values and in its measurements, the survey's reckoning is very crude. The rearrangement, on a feudal basis, of the original returns enabled the Conqueror and his officers to see with ease the extent of a baron's possessions; but it also had the effect of showing how far he had engaged under-tenants, and who those under-tenants were. This was of great importance to William, not only for military reasons, but also because of his firm resolve to make the under-tenants (though the "men" of their lords) swear allegiance directly to himself.

As Domesday Book normally records only the Christian name of an under-tenant, it is not possible to search for the surnames of families claiming a Norman origin; but much has been done, and is still being done, to identify the under-tenants, the great bulk of whom bear foreign Christian names. To a large extent, it comes down to the king's knowing where he should look when he needed to raise money. It therefore includes sources of income but not sinks of expenditure such as castles; unless their mention is needed to explain discrepancies between pre-and post-Conquest holdings. Typically, this happened in a town, where separately-recorded properties had been demolished to make way for a castle. Also there are the 5'w's who? What? Where? When? Why? Why written in Latin Englandï¿½s rulers spoke French, rather than English, at the time when Domesday Book was written. Latin was the language used for government documents. It was also the language of the Church. All church services were in Latin and bibles were also written in Latin. Since the scribe for Domesday Book was a churchman and it was made for the King's government, it was written in Latin.

Latin was still used for important documents right up to Victorian times. The scribe who wrote Domesday Book also shortened some of the Latin words. Books were often written in this way, as it saved space. However this fact makes Domesday Book hard to read. All numbers are written as Roman numerals. Subsequent history Domesday Book was originally preserved in the royal treasury at Winchester (the Norman kings' capital). It was originally referred to as the Book of Winchester, and refers to itself as such in a late edition. When the treasury moved to Westminster, probably under Henry II, the book went with it. In the Dialogus de scaccario (temp. Hen. II.) it is spoken of as a record from the arbitrament of which there was no appeal (from which its popular name of Domesday is said to be derived). In the Middle Ages its evidence was frequently invoked in the law-courts; and even now there are certain cases in which appeal is made to its testimony. It remained in Westminster until the days of Queen Victoria, being preserved from 1696 onwards in the Chapter House, and only removed in special circumstances, such as when it was sent to Southampton for photozincographic reproduction.

Domesday Book was eventually placed in the Public Record Office, London; it can be now seen in a glass case in the museum at The National Archives, Kew which is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. In 1869 it received a modern binding. Most recently, the two books were rebound for its ninth centenary in 1986, when Great Domesday was divided into two volumes and Little Domesday was divided into three volumes. The ancient Domesday chest, in which it used to be kept, is also preserved in the building at Kew.

The printing of Domesday, in "record type", was begun by the government in 1773, and the book was published, in two volumes, in 1783; in 1811 a volume of indices was added, and in 1816 a supplementary volume, separately indexed, containing: The Exon Domesday ï¿½ for the south-western counties The Inquisitio Eliensis The Liber Winton ï¿½ surveys of Winchester early in the 12th century The Boldon Buke ï¿½ a survey of the bishopric of Durham a century later than Domesday. Photographic facsimiles of Domesday Book, for each county separately, were published in 1861-1863, also by the government. Today, Domesday Book is available in numerous editions, usually based per county and available with other local history resources. In 1986, the BBC released the BBC Domesday Project, the results of a project to create a survey to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book.

In August 2006 the contents of Domesday went on-line, with an English translation of the book's Latin. Visitors to the website will now be able to search a place name, see the index entry made for the manor, town, city or village and, for a fee, download the appropriate page. Although unique in character and invaluable to the student, scholars are unable to explain portions of its language and of its system. This is partly due to its very early date, which has placed a gulf between Domesday Book and later records which is difficult to bridge. To the topographer, as to the genealogist, its evidence is of primary importance, as it not only contains the earliest survey of each township or manor, but affords, in the majority of cases, the clue to its subsequent descent. Bibliography Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration. London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7. Hallam, Elizabeth M. Domesday Book through Nine Centuries. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1986. Keats-Rohan, Katherine S. B.

Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066ï¿½1166. 2v. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999. Maitland, F. W. Domesday Book and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-521-34918-4 Wood, Michael. The Doomsday Quest: In Search of the Roots of England. London: BBC Books, 2005. ISBN 0-563-52274-7 Britains 10 best palaces | History Extra Directory Britain's 10 best palaces Steeped in history, Britain’s palaces have been the backdrop to royal births, marriages and even murders. Here we round up 10 of the most remarkable... Thursday 18th February 2016 Eltham Palace. (Steve Vidler/Alamy Stock Photo) Eltham Palace, Greenwich A cross between moated medieval manor and glamorous 1930s mansion, Eltham Palace is one of Britain’s most unique stately homes.

First recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 [a manuscript record of the ‘great survey’ of much of England and parts of Wales completed by order of William the Conqueror], Eltham was one of the largest and most popular residences of the medieval royals, and later Henry VIII later spent much of his childhood at the palace. Eltham later fell into a period of decline and was poorly maintained. Diarist John Evelyn visited in 1656 and found that “both the palace and chapel are in miserable ruins, the noble wood and park destroyed”. The palace enjoyed a glamorous new lease of life in the 1930s when it was purchased by millionaire socialites Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. They brought sophisticated, modern opulence to Eltham, with gold mosaic bathrooms, walk-in wardrobes and ‘Cunard style’ bedrooms inspired by the smooth curves and veneered surfaces of fashionable cruise liners. The Courtaulds decorated the house with their extensive art collection and built a stunning art deco domed entrance hall, perfect for hosting parties with visitors as diverse as Russian composer Stravinsky, actress and singer Gracie Fields and Conservative politician Rab Butler.

Another highlight was the map room, in which Stephen and Virginia planned their frequent travels. The walls were covered with large maps of the couple’s destinations and paintings depicting scenes from across the globe. Elsewhere in the house, door reliefs were decorated with exotic images of animals and birds such as kangaroos and armadillos, drawn from life at London Zoo. Virginia Courtauld’s love of exotic animals was so great she even had a specially designed suite of rooms installed at Eltham for her ring-tailed lemur named Mah-Jongg. Jungle murals covered the walls and a central heating system was specially installed to remind Mah-Jongg of his tropical home. Today’s visitors to Eltham can spot an image of Virginia’s beloved lemur carved into the timber bosses of the restored Great Hall. To find out more about Eltham Palace, click here. Kew Palace, Richmond upon Thames Built in 1631 as a country retreat for Flemish silk merchant Samuel Fortrey and his wife, Catherine, Kew Palace passed through the hands of several wealthy and well-known tenants in its early years, including the Lord Mayor of London in 1699.

The red brick villa became a royal residence in 1729, when it was purchased by King George II and Queen Caroline. Kew is now world-renowned for its Royal Botanic Gardens, the foundations of which were laid by Prince Frederick, son of King George II, in the mid 18th century. After Frederick’s unexpected death aged 44 [from a burst abscess in the lung, commonly believed to have been triggered by a blow from a cricket or tennis ball], his widow, Augusta, continued his work on the gardens. With architect William Chambers and gardener William Aiton, Augusta built an exotic miniature world in Kew’s grounds, including a brick pagoda and replica mosque. Later in the 18th century life at Kew took a dark turn, as the palace became a place of seclusion for the so-called ‘mad king’, George III. Thought by some historians to have been suffering from bipolar disorder or the hereditary blood disease porphyria, George suffered from outbreaks of mania. These were reportedly characterised by “incessant loquacity”, sometimes accompanied by convulsions and even foaming at the mouth. During these spells of mental illness George was kept away from the public eye at Kew.

He underwent brutal treatment including straight-jackets, leeching and emetics [medicines that induce vomiting] at the palace. Kew’s sombre associations with George III’s illness and internment affected the palace’s popularity with later royals, and it slowly fell out of regular use. To find out more about Kew Palace, click here. Kew Palace. (Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images) The Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh Queen Elizabeth II’s official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse has been a home of Scottish monarchs since the 16th century. Located at the bottom of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, the palace stands on the foundation of a 12th-century abbey. In 1501 James IV decided to convert the site into a home suitable for his new bride, Magaret Tudor. His son and successor, James V, oversaw further construction at Holyrood, which today covers 10 acres of land. It boasts 289 rooms, the largest of which is the 44.5 metre-long great gallery. Holyrood is renowned as the home of the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots .

Between 1561 and 1567 Mary lived in the oldest surviving part of the palace, the James V tower, which was equipped with a drawbridge and moat. Some of the most significant events in Mary’s life took place at Holyrood: she married twice in the palace, firstly in 1565 to Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, and again in 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. The most traumatic episode of Mary’s Holyrood residency came in 1566 when her private secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered in her apartments there. Mary’s first husband, Lord Darnley, who was reputedly jealous of Rizzio’s influence over his wife, orchestrated the crime. Mary, who was six months pregnant at the time, witnessed the brutal attack and was allegedly held down by Lord Darnley as his associates stabbed Rizzio more than 50 times. A plaque in the room adjacent to Mary’s bedchamber still marks the spot where Rizzio died. To find out more about the Palace of Holyroodhouse, click here. Palace of Holyroodhouse.

(ED Jones/AFP/Getty Images) Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire A grand hall in Northamptonshire built between 1470 and 1480, Apethorpe was an informal retreat for Tudor and Stuart monarchs including Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, James I and Charles I. A cross between a palace and hunting lodge, it was well equipped for leisure time and located conveniently close to quality hunting in nearby Rockingham Forest. According to historian Marcus Binney, Apethorpe covers “a complete history of English architecture”. “What is extraordinary is that it has so many layers” he told the Telegraph in 2015, “You begin around 1500, and then you have this amazing Jacobean period and great 18th-century rooms and then revivalist wings from the 19th century.” The monarch most associated with the hall is James I – a life-size statue of him once stood in the main court. The king first visited Apethorpe in 1603 and is said to have met his favourite George Villiers [later the Duke of Buckingham] on a hunt there in 1614. The pair reportedly used the hall for “more commodious entertainment...

and princely recreation”, and the bedchamber nearest the king’s is unusually called the duke’s chamber. After an £8m renovation by English Heritage to prevent decay and disrepair, the house was in January 2015 sold to French millionaire Baron von Pfetten for £2.5m. Von Pfetten renamed it from Apethorpe Hall to Apethorpe Palace, in recognition of its connections to royal history. To find out more about Apethorpe Palace, click here. Kensington Palace, London In 1689 William III and Mary II were seeking an escape from the intense Whitehall smog that aggravated William’s asthma. After finding clearer air at Nottingham House in Kensington Village, they employed architects to transform it into an elegant palace. After William and Mary, Kensington was occupied by Queen Anne, George I and George II. George II welcomed a number of visitors to the palace, from Cherokee tribesmen to the composer GF Handel. The monarch died of a heart attack in a palace ‘water closet’ [toilet] in 1760. Kensington was later the site of several central events in Queen Victoria ’s early life.

Born there in 1819, she grew up in the palace under the intensely watchful eye of her mother and Sir John Conroy [former equerry to Victoria’s father and her mother’s close advisor]. It was from the top of Kensington’s stone stairs that in 1836 Victoria saw the love of her life, Prince Albert, for the very first time. She later confided in her diary how Albert was “extremely handsome… his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth.” It was also at Kensington that Princess Victoria received news of her uncle King William IV’s death, making her queen aged just 18. She left the palace within a month. After leaving the Kensington, Victoria was nostalgic for her childhood home, writing to her daughter after a visit in 1857: “I can’t tell you the feeling it gave me to see my old bedroom….

I loved the old house though it often was not a very gay or even happy one!” Victoria’s affection for the house she grew up in saw her instigate a significant restoration of the palace later in her life, after which time it was opened to the public on her 80th birthday in 1899. In 1940 Kensington fell victim to the Blitz, with bomb damage to the queen’s apartments. A brave caretaker reportedly prevented any further damage by removing unexploded bombs. To find out more about Kensington Palace, click here. Statue Of Queen Victoria in front of Kensington Palace. (Tim Graham/Getty Images) St Davids Bishop's Palace, Pembrokeshire A dramatic medieval ruin on the stunning Pembrokeshire coast, St Davids Bishop’s Palace is one of Wales’ most important ecclesiastical sites. Writing for BBC History Magazine in 2012, Professor Ralph Griffiths called it “one of the most significant sites in the history of Christianity in the British Isles, and one of the earliest”.

A holy site dating from the 6th century, the religious community at St Davids was ransacked by Norse raiders at least 10 times over the next 400 years. Bishop Thomas Bek (1280–93) and Bishop Henry De Gower (1328–47) undertook the majority of the palace’s construction, with additions and alterations being made by successors. It initially consisted of two grand sets of rooms around a courtyard; the simpler one intended for bishops’ private use, the other for entertaining. Following the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the Bishop’s Palace fell into disrepair, eventually becoming the roofless ruins left standing today. However, a sense of the wealth and power of the medieval church can still be seen in ornate details that remain, such as chequered stonework and decorative carvings shaped like human heads. Perhaps most striking of all is the wheel window in the great hall’s east gable, once intended as a spectacular feature to impress the bishops’ guests. Ruins of the Bishop's Palace.

(DeAgostini/Getty Images) St James’s Palace, Westminster Built by Henry VIII between 1531 and 1536, St James’s Palace stands on the site of a former hospital that treated leprosy patients in Westminster. One particularly fascinating feature of St James’s is a fireplace in the state apartments, built during Henry VIII’s reign. While one side of the fireplace bears the initials ‘HA’, for Henry and Anne Boleyn, on the other an ‘H’ stands alone. This unfortunate design quirk is the result of Anne’s execution halfway through the fireplace’s construction. Unfortunately much of the palace was destroyed by fire in 1809, including private royal apartments that were never rebuilt. St James’s has over the centuries witnessed a variety of royal events: Anne Boleyn stayed there the night before her coronation in 1533, while in 1649 Charles I stayed there the night before a much more sombre event – his execution. Elizabeth I planned attacks on the Spanish Armada in the palace apartments in 1588 and under Cromwell the palace was used as an army barracks.

In 1840 Queen Victoria married her German cousin Prince Albert in St James’s chapel, in the first wedding of a reigning queen since Mary Tudor in 1554. Crowds clamoured to get a look at the royal bride, who became the first to wear white so she could be seen from afar. Today St James’s is closed to the public, as it remains a working palace. To find out more about St James's Palace, click here. St James's Palace. (JTB Photo/UIG via Getty Images) Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire The only non-royal, non-episcopal house in England to be called a palace, Blenheim was built in the early 18th century by the Duke of Marlborough . After leading a military victory over the French at the battle of Blenheim in 1704, the Duke was given the ruined royal manor and park along with £240,000 for building costs, as a token of gratitude from Queen Anne.

The palace was built in a Baroque style between 1705 and 1733 by Sir John Vanbrugh, while the surrounding parkland was redesigned by renowned landscape gardener Capability Brown between 1764 and 1774. The garden’s highlights include a 134-feet high Column of Victory depicting the Duke of Marlborough as a Roman general, and a temple of health to celebrate George III’s recovery from illness. Following the death of the 1st Duke’s two sons, an act of parliament was passed in 1706 to allow his daughter Henrietta Godolphin to inherit Blenheim. Another interesting woman in the palace’s history was Consuelo Vanderbilt, an American heiress whose marriage to the 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895 saved Blenheim from financial ruin. Consuelo’s dowry was used by her husband to redecorate the state rooms, re-equip the long library and create the formal gardens. However, the couple had an unhappy marriage and the duchess struggled with the strict, archaic social observances of life at Blenheim.

She eventually divorced her husband, leaving behind her life at Blenheim to become a campaigner for women’s work rights and the first female member of the London County Council. Blenheim is perhaps most famous as the family home of Winston Churchill. The future prime minister was born there on 30 November 1874 and later proposed to his future wife, Clementine Hozier, in the gardens. The palace was always significant to Churchill, who wittily quipped: “At Blenheim I took two very important decisions; to be born and to marry. I am content with the decision I took on both occasions...” To find out more about Blenheim, click here. Blenheim Palace. (Olaf Protze/LightRocket via Getty Images) Hampton Court Palace, Surrey Henry VIII was a keen builder and of all his 60 houses, Hampton Court was arguably the most significant. From 1528 he undertook major building works to redesign and expand the palace [which had originally been built by Cardinal Wolsey], modernising it for royal entertaining. He introduced tennis courts, pleasure gardens, a bowling alley and a hunting park of more than 1,100 acres.

Henry also made the palace more suitable for feasts, banquets and masques, with 36,000 square feet of kitchens, a vast great hall [later performed in by Shakespeare in the reign of James I], pipes with flowing water and a ‘garderobe’ [bathroom], which could accommodate 28 people at a time. Henry is famous for having had six wives , all of whom visited Hampton Court. As the king’s favourite residence, the palace witnessed the ups and downs of his tempestuous marital life. When attempting to get an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn, he sent the first letter threatening a break with Rome from Hampton Court. In 1537 his third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to his only son, the future Edward VI, there, dying of childbirth complications while Edward was baptized in the chapel. In the 1840s Henry both divorced Anne of Cleves and married Catherine Parr at the palace. One of Hampton Court’s many ghost stories is that of the ‘screaming lady’ believed to dwell in its haunted gallery.

The ghostly figure is supposed to be Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, who was supposedly dragged screaming from the gallery while under house arrest at the palace before her execution for adultery. To find out more about Hampton Court Palace, click here. Hampton Court Palace. (Promnitz/ullstein bild via Getty Images) Buckingham Palace, Westminster The official London residence of Britain’s reigning monarch, Westminster’s iconic Buckingham Palace has a surprisingly short history when compared with other royal palaces. Originally built in 1703, Buckingham House was purchased as a royal residence by George III in 1761 as a comfortable family home for his wife, Queen Charlotte. It was renovated into a sumptuous palace in the 1820s and 14 of George and Charlotte’s 15 children were born there. Queen Victoria adopted Buckingham palace as the official royal residence in 1837. She also started the tradition of appearing on the palace balcony during public events, firstly at the opening of 1851’s royal exhibition. This was famously continued by Prince William and Kate Middleton at their wedding in 2011.

Buckingham Palace covers 77,000 square metres, with 775 rooms, including 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms and 1,514 doors. It has welcomed world-famous guests including Mozart, Dickens, John F Kennedy, Gandhi, Neil Armstrong and Nelson Mandela. In 1914 suffragettes attempted to breach the Buckingham Palace gates and chained themselves to the railings, and the palace was bombed seven times during the Second World War. However, the response of the royal family was somewhat surprising: Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI, reportedly said of the damage to the palace: “I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.” To find out more about Buckingham Palace, click here. Buckingham Palace. (Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images) How old is English? How old is English? [1] Wales came under English dominance in the Middle Ages (1277) and yet some 750 years later pockets of Welsh persist. Such pockets are typical for where new languages were introduced. They can be found all over the world. [2] England without Cornwall.

It is possible that some Welsh was still spoken in West-England. [3] William commissioned the writing of Domesday Book. This book was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086. The survey was similar to a census by a government of today. It mentions place names, river names and names of local landowners. Domesday Book contains no place-names of Welsh origin. [4] There is one exception: after 1066 AD, French remained for a very long time the language of the English aristocracy. Richard 'Lionheart' was called in reality 'Richard Coeur de Lion' and spoke not a word of this commoners' language, called English. [5] Sam Newton, "The Origins of Beowulf" [6] In the Middle Ages the city of Bruges felt a strong French language pressure coming from Paris and London. Luckily, the city was as rich as both taken together, so Flemish had no problem of maintaining itself. [7] That situation was very similar in Belgium during the 100 years after its independence (1830 - 1930). Then Flemish (=Dutch) was considered to be a non-language.

Only French was regarded noble enough to rule. Language evolution Chaucer can still be read today despite the fact that he wrote 700 years ago. His words are even more understandable for someone who knows Dutch. In fact, the spoken language has changed relatively little over the last 800 years. The very same can be said about most other local tongues in Europe. A major change since the Middle Ages was the introduction of the ‘general’ or national languages in Europe. Officially, England is a notorious exception to the known fact that local populations are very reluctant to change their language because it allegedly changed its language from Brythonic to English at a record breaking speed. Suppose that 2000 years ago all Britons spoke a Brythonic language (proto-Welsh). The Romans conquered their land, and soon the British upper-class assiduously started to learn Latin. During almost 400 years, the British aristocracy would help to introduce Latin as a daily language. The example here is Gaul, but also Spain and Portugal.

In the fifth century, England was allegedly 'conquered' by the Anglo-Saxons, even while the Roman Empire still persisted, albeit in the west less as a military power, more as a traditional role model and as a centre of religious power. Logically, as Latin had been introduced for 400 years, only something like 35% of Britain would have changed its language into Gallo-Roman (Gallo-Roman is defined here as an early mixture of Latin and what remained of the local Brythonic language). After 400 years of Roman occupation, mainly cities and important centres would speak this Gallo-Roman, just like in Gaul. The less developed countryside would have kept its local Brythonic tongue. Cities represented less than 10% of total populations until the 19th century. [1] According to the CBA (Celtic Britain Assumption), 600 years after the Anglo-Saxon 'invasion', seven different languages were supposed to be present in England [2]: 1- Latin (mainly in writing - the Church). 2 -Gallo-Roman (spoken by the old upper class).

3- Welsh supposedly to be the original language (spoken by isolated farmers in eastern England). 4- English ( by the new upper class). 5- Danish, where they took over parts of the country from the Anglo-Saxons (aristocracy + army). 6- Norwegian (i.e. Viking/Irish mixture down the west coast). 7- French. The Normans came in 1066, conquered the whole of England, and imposed their idiom (spoken by the aristocracy and clergy). Pockets of each language should be traceable in local place-names, all over Britain. Logically, in 1166, 100 years after William the Conqueror, a patchwork of languages would have existed. Indications of that situation should have been reported since the early Middle Ages [3]. Despite this deductive evidence, all the mentioned languages managed to merge in 1366, only 300 years after the conquest by the Normans, into the very recognizable language of Chaucer. Moreover, all traces of languages other than English had disappeared in England [2] except for Latin in writing and many French words that had been freshly introduced.

The very presence of those words in English can be understood as a proof that the language was indeed greatly influenced by Latin and French. But where are the typical Welsh words? They should have been more present if we compare this with the number of Brythonic words in modern French (although there too, the number has been greatly overestimated). More words of colonial origin were introduced in the English language than words of Brythonic origin. Australia gave words like boomerang, kangaroo. America gave words like tomahawk, etc.. English always had the capacity to absorb foreign words. However, linguists now claim that traces of Brythonic survive in grammatical constructions. This is possible: we know that it was the language of Mercia that influenced the most Middle English and we know that a part of Mercia consisted out of former Welsh territory. By contrast, the original Welsh language remained in Wales, parts of Scotland and Cornwall and is still well traceable there. Why is there no trace of all other languages in the east of Britain? [4] Evolution of English The evolution of English is presented as if everything started with the oldest texts like Beowulf and then evolved in a straight line into modern English. That is not true.

There is a major distance between the language used in the Beowulf poem and Chaucer's English. There were many Old English dialects. There was no such thing as standard Old English. Modern English is a mixture of those ancient local dialects. The question is even whether in those days someone from Wessex could understand someone from Kent. The version of Beowulf we have is a West Saxon translation of what was probably an original East Anglian poem [5]. West Saxonia or Wessex is the modern region near Oxford. East Anglia is near Cambridge. Apart from that, the writing standard of Beowulf is different from later Wessex texts. The language in Beowulf was a local dialect. It was the language of Mercia (central England) that had the most influence upon later standard English, not the Wessex language. Therefore, Beowulf cannot be considered to be the precursor of English. Beowulf is interesting because it illustrates that proto-English was not a single language but a language group. In Middle English, some ancient Old English sounds had disappeared. For instance: the character 'y' in Old English should be read 'ü' like in the German word Frühstück (breakfast).

Or like in déjà vu, wrongly pronounced 'dayzha voo', which is French for 'already seen'. The sound that comes close in English is the 'u' like in 'butter', but much more emphasized or like 'oo' in football as spoke by a Scotsman. This 'u'-sound is present in Brythonic, French and in other Germanic languages. It is absent in Spanish, Italian and Latin. Pronouncing 'y' as it used to be makes Old English sound much more like West Flemish, Frisian and other low Germanic languages. For instance, 'yfel' is 'evil' and was pronounced like 'uffel' but with a more emphasized 'u'. This 'u'-sound is completely absent in modern English. To understand Beowulf better, the poem should be re-written using modern writing standards. The gap between Old English and Middle English can be understood only when you take into account the absolutely dominant position of French at the English court in the Middle Ages. Between Old and Middle English stands French. French was the language of William the Conqueror and soon after the conquest, 75% of the English aristocracy spoke Norman-French.

Before then, English was the language of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, the clergy, the king and the intellectuals. Before, foreign words were not introduced 'as is', but translated into (old) English by composing new compound words. The language was protected against intrusive foreign words. The writers of Old English maintained a conservative writing standard for centuries. I think that the very first versions of written Old English were deliberately hugely old fashioned. The plausible culprits were monks who could have taken Old English as spoken during the Roman times as a standard for all of England. The very oldest of Old English was therefore felt by contemporaries as a language which belonged to the past. It must have come over as classic English, from the same period as classic Latin which was already no longer spoken at the beginning of the Roman Empire. This is similar to modern written English, which differs a lot from the spoken version. Modern written English is as English was spoken at the time of Shakespeare. There is little difference between early Old English and late Old English. At the beginning of the eleventh century, spoken English already differed significantly from how it was written. The writing standard was completely renewed in Chaucer's time (1340) when speaking English slowly regained some prestige.

Language protection is also what happened in Flanders and Germany when they had to accept new concepts of French origin (and the French often got it from the Italians..). Similarly in modern France, when they too have to accept new words coming from England or America. For instance, the French rejected the words computer and byte and proposed 'ordinateur' and 'octet'. And yes, they do have a word for entrepreneur. It is entrepreneur. Recently a German minister declared war against English words in the German language. It was in a similar way that Old English shielded itself from foreign influences. But after French had become the language par excellence of the English aristocracy, this sort of protection fell away. The English barons spoke French with a Norman accent in Parliament and only French. English had become something of the commoners and not worth any attention [6]. Between 1066 and about 1466, four centuries, English was considered to be a peasant language in England. [7] This attitude changed abruptly during the fifteenth century partly because of the Hundred Years' War with France, and partly because the Black Death tilted the balance of power towards the surviving peasantry, whose labour became more valuable.

So, English became fashionable again, but sadly, the old protection reflex was gone. From then on, the English intellectuals no longer protected their language, failed to build new compound words and English evolved into a strange mix of a Germanic foundation and background with a French foreground, mixed with a bunch of other words, many of Dutch origin. For instance, landscape is such a Dutch word. Without the war with France, the chances are great that all of England would have spoken a sort of French today. So, all of America would have spoken this French also. Eventually, the English aristocracy tried to pick up English again and to give it some high ranking status again. The result was the birth of an aristocratic sort of English also called 'received pronunciation' . Remember the musical & film "My fair lady"? Remember "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain"? That is what the upper-class usually does: build a new divergent language that will distinguish them from low-ranking commoners. That upper-class language was Old English at first, then it was French, later it was stiff-upper-lip English. The first and the last are artificial to some degree.

The Domesday Book - definition of The Domesday Book by The Free Dictionary The Domesday Book - definition of The Domesday Book by The Free Dictionary Related to The Domesday Book: Domesday survey Domes·day Book (do͞omz′dā′, dōmz′-) also Dooms·day Book (do͞omz′-) n. The written record of a census and survey of English landowners and their property made by order of William the Conqueror in 1085-1086. [From Middle English domesday, doomsday; see doomsday.] Domesday Book Doomsday Book n (Historical Terms) history the record of a survey of the land of England carried out by the commissioners of William I in 1086 Domes′day (or Dooms′day) Book` n. a record of a survey of the lands of England made by order of William the Conqueror about 1086, giving ownership, extent, value, etc., of the properties. Domesday Book A 1086 survey of land holdings in England initiated by William the Conqueror.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1. Domesday Book - record of a British census and land survey in 1085-1086 ordered by William the Conqueror Translations Domesday Book [ˈduːmzdeɪˌbʊk] N the Domesday Book → el Domesday Book (libro del registro catastral realizado en Inglaterra en 1086) Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: William I References in periodicals archive ? As mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was held by the powerful De Lacy family and was the hub of parish and commercial activity long before the main town of Huddersfield.

Abbey's medieval mayhem; HOW A LAND-GREEDY ABBOT'S DEMANDS LED TO MURDER AND BETRAYAL IN HALESOWEN Peter Tither, pictured, an ex-pat who lives in the South of France, paid PS2,000 for the right to be the new Lord of Little Barr, Birmingham, but the manor does not exist apart from a forgotten footnote in the Domesday Book.

Heading off to Ledbury INSIDE 4 Simple Mind's Jim Kerr fast-tracks over four great decades 14 Check out the opening credits of Whitley Bay Film Festival 23 Read about South Tyneside's answer to the Domesday Book 26 It might be Fringe first but The Stand cuts a close second 36 Top tips for Reflect Awards entries REGULARS 6 Big Picture: Vintage Trouble photo earns our applause 11 Readers' Lives: Frances Spalding reveals what's in the frame 18 New Music: Local bands play big part in Split Festival programme 20 Books: Durham's Dan Vyleta is out to thrill 21 My iPod: Rosie Ward's toe-tapping choices 24 Classical: Offerings from our young musical talents 28 10 Things: To breeze through this August 54 Final Say: Ciaran Jeremiah says it with Feeling Basildon - A Chronological History 1086 - 1499 1086 The first mention of Barstable (Berdestapia) a name associated with Basildon in the *Domesday Book.

Berlesduna (Basildon), Dantuna (Dunton), Leiendunã (Laindon), Langenduna (Langdon), Leam (Lee Chapel), Nezendena (Nevendon), Piceseia (Pitsea) and Phenge (Vange), are also recorded in the book as belonging to the Barstable Hundred. All names are believed to be of Saxon origin dating from the Anglo-Saxon occupation of south east England, from the mid 5th century AD to the Norman conquest of 1066. *The Domesday Book is a record of the great survey carried out over most of England and parts of Wales as commissioned by William I, also known as William the Conqueror (circa 1028 ï¿½ 9 September 1087) to determine who owned what. It was begun in 1085 and completed in 1086 and written in Latin. 1100 - 1199 All Saints Church in Vange built. The present church in London Road although much changed through the centuries in part dates back to the 12th century.

It is believed to be the oldest existing building in Basildon. A new anglican church to serve Vange, St. Chad's, was later built and opened in 1958 in Timberlog Lane (now Clay Hill Road) and services at All Saints went into a gradual decline. Eventually the church was closed and made redundant in 1996. The church has been recognised by English Heritage as having special importance and is now a Grade II listed building. It is currently in the care of the Church Conservation Trust. 1254 Richard de List is the first recorded rector of St. Nicholas Church in Laindon. It is not known when the present church was built although one aspect of the building, the nave, is said to date from this period. 1290 The Essex parliamentary constituency created. The constituency survived until 1832 when North Essex and South Essex divisions were created. 1432 22nd July The former parish of Westley or West Lee is united with Langdon Hills parish. The residential development and green at Eastley on the Lee Chapel South estate was so named as it lies to the east of Lee Chapel.

Text researched and written by William Cox, 2001 with revisions and additions 2002-2015. Copyright © 2001-2015, B. Cox - Basildon History Online. All rights reserved. William the Conqueror's Rule About Watch and Favorite Watch Watching this resources will notify you when proposed changes or new versions are created so you can keep track of improvements that have been made. Favorite Favoriting this resource allows you to save it in the “My Resources” tab of your account. There, you can easily access this resource later when you’re ready to customize it or assign it to your students. William the Conqueror's Rule William the Conqueror's rule was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England, which led to the compiling of the Domesday Book, a manuscript surveying the land of England in order to understand the holdings of each household. Learning Objective Analyze the reasons behind the creation of the Domesday Book and why it is such an important historical document Key Points After he launched the Norman conquest of England in 1066, William was crowned king and set about consolidating his power and authority.

Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 William's hold on England was mostly secure, allowing him to spend the majority of the rest of his reign on the continent. After the political upheaval of the Norman conquest, and the confiscation of lands that followed, William's interest was to determine property holdings across the land and understand the financial resources of his kingdom, which was carried out in the Domesday Book. The aim of the Domesday Book was to determine what each landholder had in worth (land, livestock etc. ) to determine what taxes had been owed under Edward the Confessor . The Domesday Book is considered the oldest public record in England; no survey approaching the scope and extent of the Domesday Book was attempted again until 1873. Terms William the Conqueror 's Rule Although William's main rivals were gone after the Battle of Hastings , he still faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. After further military efforts, William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066 in London. He made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy.

Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 William's hold on England was mostly secure, allowing him to spend the majority of the rest of his reign on the continent. The lands of the resisting English elite were confiscated; some of the elite fled into exile. To control his new kingdom , William gave lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints throughout the land. Other effects of the conquest included the introduction of Norman French as the language of the elites and changes in the composition of the upper classes, as William reclaimed territory to be held directly by the king and settled new Norman nobility on the land. More gradual changes affected the agricultural classes and village life; the main change appears to have been the formal elimination of slavery, which may or may not have been linked to the invasion. There was little alteration in the structure of government, as the new Norman administrators took over many of the forms of Anglo-Saxon government. William did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, but instead continued to administer each part separately. William took over an English government that was more complex than the Norman system. England was divided into shires or counties, which were further divided into either hundreds or wapentakes.

To oversee his expanded domain, William was forced to travel even more than he had as duke. He crossed back and forth between the continent and England at least nineteen times between 1067 and his death. William's lands were divided after his death; Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert, and England to his second surviving son, William. Domesday Book The Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the great survey, completed in 1086 on orders of William the Conqueror, of much of England and parts of Wales. The aim of the great survey was to determine what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and how much it was worth. The survey's ultimate purpose was to determine what taxes had been owed under Edward the Confessor. The assessors' reckoning of a man's holdings and their value, as given in the book, was dispositive and without appeal, and thus the name Domesday Book came into use in the 12th century. Domesday Book images from the Open Domesday Book project, which created the first free online copy of the Domesday Book. Image credit: Professor J.J.N. Palmer and George Slater.

Purpose of the Domesday Book After a great political convulsion like the Norman Conquest, and the wholesale confiscation of landed estates that followed, it was in William's interest to make sure that the rights of the crown, which he claimed to have inherited, had not suffered in the process. In particular, his Norman followers were more likely to evade the liabilities of their English predecessors, and there was growing discontent at the Norman land-grab that had occurred in the years following the invasion. William required certainty and definitive reference points as to property holdings across the nation so that they might be used as evidence in disputes and purported authority for crown ownership. The Domesday survey therefore recorded the names of the new landholders and the assessments on which their taxes were to be paid. But it did more than this; by the king's instructions, it endeavored to make a national valuation list, estimating the annual value of all the land in the country at three points in time: At the time of Edward the Confessor's death; When the new owners received it; At the time of the survey.

Further, it reckoned, by command, the potential value as well.It is evident that William desired to know the financial resources of his kingdom, and it is probable that he wished to compare them with the existing assessment. The great bulk of the Domesday Book is devoted to the somewhat arid details of the assessment and valuation of rural estates, which were as yet the only important sources of national wealth. After stating the assessment of a manor, the record sets forth the amount of arable land, and the number of plough teams (each reckoned at eight oxen) available for working it, with the additional number (if any) that might be employed; then the river-meadows, woodland, pasture, fisheries (i.e. fishing weirs), water-mills, salt-pans (if by the sea), and other subsidiary sources of revenue; then the number of peasants in their several classes; and finally a rough estimate of the annual value of the whole, past and present. Importance The importance of the Domesday Book for understanding the period in which it was written is difficult to overstate. It is considered the oldest public record in England and is probably the most remarkable statistical document in the history of Europe.

No survey approaching the scope and extent of the Domesday Book was attempted until the 1873 Return of Owners of Land (sometimes termed the Modern Domesday), which presented the first complete, post-Domesday picture of the distribution of landed property in the British Isles.

Question: How is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 usually known?
Answer: DOMESDAY BOOK