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The 'Domesday Book'.
This is one of the more familiar historical records to most Britons. It is our earliest public record,
the foundation document of the national archives and a legal document that is still valid as evidence
of title to land.
Based on the Domesday survey of 1085-86, which was drawn up on the orders of William the Conqueror, it
describes, in remarkable detail, the landholdings and resources of late 11th century England,
demonstrating the power of the government machine in the first century of the new Millennium.
But what was Domesday Book really about? Well, unsurprisingly there's
a good deal of controversy about that. But I think the best explanation
is that it's to set the seal on 20 years of fairly chaotic land acquisition,
and you can see it's very much a directory for William's ministers
in London, so they could quickly find out who owned what.
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