The value of Domesdori as an historical ment can best be understood from an meration of the subjects which it elucidates. sides giving the names of all those who held land under King Edward, and of the fortunate Normans who supplanted them after the quest, the hook treats of the ancient etc.tonc: of the realm in great detail. It describes the duties of the cities and towns when the King visited them. sets forth all the titular distinctions of the period. ecclesiastic.. official, and lay. and mentions the different trades and occupations of the time. There is a classified census of the ple, together with an amount of the condition of the conntr•, town. and city population. The measures of land are amply recorded, as are also the territorial names, jurisdictions, franehises, and services. Lists of foreign tenants and lands held by foreign monasteries have been compiled from the names enumerated in the hook. Castles, manors, and markets find mention. as well as the Condition of the churches, with their endowment s and tithes. The hook contains infer. 'nation about the metals in use at the time, and also about the quarries of stone and the springs from which salt was obtained. Eight varieties of money are spoken of, and interesting facts are given about their use. Finally. we get occa sional hints as to the legal procedure of the time, both civil and criminal. The mere statement which has been made of its contents is enough to show the immense value of the Domesday Book for all purposes of inquiry into the condition of England under the early Norman kings. "It will ever." says Dr. Lappenberg (History of Engiond Under the Anglo-Saxon kings. London, 1543), "be found an inexhaustible source of information respecting the Anglo-Saxon and Norman con stitutions, particularly in regard to the rights and revenues of the kings and their vassals, the relations of cities and towns, statistical ac counts of various kinds. families and landown ers, together with innumeralde matters highly interesting to inquiring posterity, though un noticed by the chroniclers of those times, either as too well known or as worthless. An inti mate aequaintanee with Donic..obry should supply the basis of every historical account of England. particularly of its special history during the Middle _\ges." The Domesday Book first appeared in print in 1783, in two folios. Types were east for the purpose. so as to represent the abbreviations and contractions of the original manuscript. The work was ten years in passing through the press.
In 1516 two supplementary volumes were pub lished. One contained an excellent general intro duction by Sir Henry Ellis of the British Mu seum, with indexes of the names of places and of tenants-in-chief mentioned in the work. The other volume contained four other records of the same nature: (1) The Exeter Domesday, already mentioned: (2) the Inquisitio Elicnsis, a record closely resembling the Exeter Domesday. contain ing the survey of the lands of the monastery of Ely. in the counties of Cambridge, Hartford, Essex. Norfolk, Suffolk. and Huntingdon: (3) the Winton Domc
In 1872 the Government ordered a general re turn of owners of land to he prepared by the Local Government Board. This new Domesday Book was published in 1874-76.
B1n1.IOGRAen v. The literature of the subject is extensive. The more valuable authorities are : Maitland, Domesday and Bryond ( London, 1897) ; Freeman. History of the Vorman ran quest, vol. v. (Oxford, 18711) F,yton, "Notes on Domesday," in TrUnNa C I of the Shropshire .1 reh frologieu Noricty ( Shrewsbury, ; Birch, "The Domesday 1104)k." in the 'Journal of the British Arclurological Association, vol. xii. (London, 1833) : D'Anisy, lercherehes sur lc Domesday (('aen, 15421: 1Zoutul, Feudal England (London, I895) ; Birch, Domesday Book, a Popular Account (London, 1587). The last contains a good working bibliography of the sub ject.