William I Commissions the Domesday Book
A king short on money orders a survey of literally everyone and everything he now owns
Quick facts
- Ordered by
- William I (the Conqueror), Christmas 1085
- Survey conducted
- 1086
- Places recorded
- More than 13,000
- Current location
- The National Archives, Kew
What happened
By 1085 King William I faced a shortage of money and growing disagreement among the Norman lords over how conquered English land had been divided among them. The National Archives explains that William ordered a nationwide survey to find out about all the land in his kingdom: who owned each property, who else lived there, what it was worth, and how much tax he could therefore charge. Royal officials asked the same fixed questions in local courts three times over, covering conditions before 1066, at the time land changed hands after the conquest, and as they stood in 1086. The National Archives notes that the survey covers almost all of England, naming more than 13,000 places, though it left out London, Winchester, and parts of the north.
Why it matters
Domesday Book is the oldest government record held in the National Archives and remains the most detailed snapshot of English landholding, population, and wealth from the entire medieval period. It documents in granular detail how thoroughly the Norman Conquest had redistributed English land: most property once held by roughly 2,000 Anglo-Saxon landowners had passed to around 200 Norman barons within twenty years.
How we know
The original manuscript volumes, Great Domesday and Little Domesday, survive intact and are held at the National Archives in Kew, where they have been studied, transcribed, and digitized in full.
Sources
- The National Archives (UK). Domesday Book · Primary source (author-declared)nationalarchives.gov.uk · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- The National Archives (UK). Domesday Book (research guide) · Primary sourcenationalarchives.gov.uk · The domain "nationalarchives.gov.uk" is on our Primary source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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