4.3 THE DOMESDAY BOOK

The original MS. of the Domesday Book is in the National Archives. It has “had several variant names – Liber de Wintonia, Rotulus Wintoniae, Scriptura Thesauri Regis, Liber Regis, Liber Judicarius, Censualis Angliae, Angliae Notitia et Lustratio, Roulis Regis, Liber de Thesauro, Exchquer Domesday. As originally compiled, it was in two volumes. In the first were 382 folios dealing with thirty counties, and it is sometimes called Great Domesday. The second is a smaller book, though it has 450 folios. It treats of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, and is called Little Domesday.” (63)

The accounts given by Domesday Book of various counties have often been edited, and many are accompanied by translations. A list of the most important local studies can be found in Graves.(64) The Herefordshire Domesday is listed below as an example of these local studies. A discussion of some of the surveys which were compiled as a result of the Domesday inquisition can be found in vol. 2 of English Historical Documents.(65) Maxwell has an extensive list of the texts, translations and commentaries on the Domesday Book, including analyses by county.(66) Other local inquests and surveys carried out by the Exchequer between 1066-1200 are also listed in Graves.(67) For early printed editions of the Domesday Book, see Winfield. (68)

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63. Winfield, Percy H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925 at p.110
64. Graves, Edgar B., and Charles Gross, comps. A Bibliography of English History to 1485: Based on The Sources and Literature of English History From the Earliest Times to About 1485 by Charles Gross. Oxford, Eng.; New York: Clarendon Press, 1975 at pp.465-8
65. Douglas, David C., Dorothy Whitelock, George W. Greenaway, Harry Rothwell, A. R. Myers, and C. H. Williams, eds. English Historical Documents 10 Vols. in 11. New York: Oxford University Press, 1953-1977.1042-1189'', vol. 2 1042-1189,ed. by David Douglas at p.865
66. Maxwell, William Harold, and Leslie F. Maxwell , comps. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. 8 Vols. 2nd ed. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1955- at pp.91-7
67. Graves, Edgar B., and Charles Gross, comps. A Bibliography of English History to 1485: Based on The Sources and Literature of English History From the Earliest Times to About 1485 by Charles Gross. Oxford, Eng.; New York: Clarendon Press, 1975 at pp.471-3
68. Winfield, Percy H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925 at pp.110-2


Farley, Abraham, and Henry Ellis, eds. Domesday-Book, Seu Liber Censualis Willelmi Primi Regis Angliae, Inter Archivos Regni in Domo Capitulari Westmonasterii Asservatus: Jubente Rege Augustissimo Georgio Tertio Praelo Mandatus Typis ... 2 Vols. London: J. Nichols , 1783. OCLC: 2352946
Notes: Also available online in Modern Economy (subscription database)
Abstract: Text in Latin. The sole and indispensable edition issued by the Record Commission. Vol. 1 reproduces the whole Domesday Book. Vol. 2 is the Little Domesday, which deals with Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Two supplementary volumes were added in 1816, edited by H. Ellis. Vol .3 contains Elliss's indexes and vol. 4 contains various surveys which were compiled as a result of the Domesday Inquisition.

Galbraith, Vivian H., and James Tait, ed. Herefordshire Domesday, Circa 1160-1170; Reproduced by Collotype From Facsimile Photographs of Balliol College Manuscript 350. Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 63; n.s., 25. Nendeln/Liechtenstein : Kraus Reprint, 1974. OCLC: 1362960
Abstract: The facsimile and its transcript are interleaved so that the corresponding texts are on opposite pages.

Hamilton, N. E. S. A. Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis Nunc Primum e Manuscripto Unico in Bibliotheca Cottoniana Asservato Typis Mandata. Subjicitur Inquisitio Eliensis . Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom. Publications. London: Royal Society of Literature, 1876. OCLC: 2800356
Abstract: Text in Latin. These two inquests are derived, at first or second hand, from the original returns made by the Domesday jurors. Both give the names of jurors that are omitted in the Domesday Book.