Domesday << DOOMZ day >> Book was the first official record of the property holders living in England and the amount of land they held. The information was collected and recorded at the command of William the Conqueror in 1086, 20 years after he and his followers from Normandy crossed the English Channel and conquered England. Afterward, the properties of the great English landholders were taken over by William and his followers. William ordered the Domesday survey to discover how much land he owned, how the rest was divided, and how the land was peopled.
The kingdom was divided into districts. Each district supplied census takers who knew the territory. The census and the land survey covered most of the territory William controlled. No survey was held in either London or Winchester, and information about regions in northern England is incomplete. Nevertheless, Domesday Book is viewed as the greatest public record of medieval Europe. It is displayed at the National Archives in London.
