Decoding Domesday

by David Roffe

The Domesday Book is one of our major sources for a crucial period of English history; yet it remains difficult to interpret. This provocative new book proposes a complete re-assessment, with profound implications for our understanding of the society and economy of medieval England. In particular, it overturns the general assumption that the Domesday inquest was a comprehensive survey of lords and their lands, and so tells us about the economic underpinning of power in the late eleventh century; rather, it suggests that in 1086 matters of taxation and service were at issue and data were collected to illuminate these concerns. What emerges from this is that Domesday Book tells us less about a real economy and those who sustained it than a tributary one, with much of the wealth of England being omitted. The source, then, is not the transparent datum that social and economic historians would like it to be. In return, however, the book offers a richer understanding of late eleventh-century England in its own terms; and elucidates many long-standing conundrums of the Domesday Book itself. DAVID ROFFE is an honorary research fellow at Sheffield University. He has written widely on Domesday Book and edited five volumes of the Alecto County Edition of the text.

Table of Contents

PrefaceDomesday Past and PresentThe Domesday TextsThe Inquest and the BookThe Domesday BoroughsLordship, Land and ServiceThe Vill and TaxationThe Economy and SocietyThe Communities of the ShireThe Beyond of DomesdayDomesday NowAppendixBibliographyIndex

394 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the thesis of this book -- that the Domesday Inquest and the Domesday Book should be understood separately rather than being inextricably connected to each other -- is apparently quite daring if you are an expert on eleventh-century Britain. I am not an expert on eleventh-century Britain. I was just looking for a book about the Domesday Book, and this is not a good introduction to that topic. It is very dry and technical; I did learn a lot about Domesday Book, but the knowledge I acquired was hard-won indeed.

I could not possibly comment on the author's thesis. It seemed to make sense? But all other British historians seem to be arrayed against him.

[Peter Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decoding Domesday by David Roffe, 2015 edition, 319 pages,


Prior to reading Decoding Domesday I had a misplaced certainty concerning what was known about the project and through reading this you soon realise just how much is contested – the who, when, why and how all have questions attached to them to some degree. Roffe makes the fascinating point that there is even little consensus concerning the purpose of Domesday with its commissioning being seen as a tax book, an annual return, something of a quartermaster's manual, part of a new social contract and so on.


I'm no expert on the nitty gritty of Domesday Studies and to be honest I've long been glad that other people have had to work through the various entries looking for patterns. However, even with my own personal lack of experience in dealing with Domesday, I can say that this is in no way an introduction or a beginners guide to the topic. It's very advanced. That doesn't make this a bad book; on the contrary, it's obvious just how well researched it is and how learned Roffe is on the subject. My feeling was that I'd bitten off more than I could chew. This is a first rate book, but by heck, it's not one to approach lightly.



Chapters include:
Domesday past and present

The Domesday texts

The inquest and the book

The Domesday boroughs

Lordship, land and service

The vill and taxation

The economy and society

The communities of the shire

The beyond of Domesday

Domesday now


This book is excellent on the problems that Domesday poses students as a source and the methodology of how these have been approached in the past fills a lot of space. It is steeped in the historiography with plenty of pages referring back to the conclusions of a previous study. I didn't find the historiography that interesting, but the sections concerning the ins and outs of the inquiry and what made it into the book and why were brilliant.


The general introduction to towns is very engaging, but like in the other chapters, when Roffe goes into the specifics of Domesday it became more tricky to read and take in. There's a terrific amount of technical terminology inside, much of which was new to me, including the near leg crossing term cadastration.


There's a lot to take in, and it's all great stuff. The section on waste is very good, the importance of the Oath of Salisbury to Domesday (and beyond) is well brought out and it was good to see Nottinghamshire (the centre of the known universe, not Kaitan) featuring strongly in it.


Having read Decoding Domesday I now feel less confident about the validity of what I thought I knew previously, as aspects that I had taken as being concrete, I now know are more nuanced and that's not a bad thing. Knowing what you don't know and an awareness of a need to question what you do know, is a big step forwards to getting to the bottom of things.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent knowledge of sources, plausible thesis, very technical, easy to lose track of the forest for the trees.