Domesday Book (Penguin Classic): A Complete Translation

Domesday Book is one of the most famous documents in English history—and arguably in world history. Now available in one volume, here is the complete, authoritative translation from the original Latin, together with an index of places and a glossary of terms used.

Domesday was compiled in a matter of months in 1086, at the end of William the Conqueror’s life. According to a first-hand account by Robert, Bishop of Hereford, those sent out by the king “. . . made a survey of all England; of the lands in each of the countries; of the possessions of each of the magnates, their lands, their habitations, their men.” The detailed picture of the English landscape it offers has no equal in any country, while it is valuable not only in the picture it allows local historians to construct their area in the eleventh century but also as the foundation document of the national archives.

“Domesday Book is the book of English history. No other country in the world possesses such a detailed single record from so far back . . . A must for scholars and history buffs everywhere.”—Michael Wood

“Domesday Book is not only one of the most important documents in English history: it is one of the most extraordinary documents in any country’s history”—Lady Antonia Fraser

“The most detailed survey of a kingdom before the modern age . . . Now a new translation has been published in one volume, offering a unique picture of an early medieval society.”—The Times Educational Supplement

G. H. Martin (1928–2007) was a British scholar and historian who taught at University College, Leicester, and Merton College, Oxford. He also served as Keeper of the Public Records from 1982 to 1988 and helped found the Association of Commonwealth Archivists. He cotranslated Domesday Book, which is a foundation document of the British National Archives. 

Ann Williams is a British historian and author specializing in English medieval history. She was a senior lecturer in medieval history at the Polytechnic of North London. She is the author of numerous books, including Dictionary of Dark Age Britain, The English and the Norman Conquest, and The World Before Domesday.