The Acta of William the Conqueror, Domesday Book, the Oath of Salisbury, and the legitimacy and stability of the Norman regime in England

Domesday Book is one of the most famous documents in English history, and arguably one of the most important. It is widely regarded as the product of a great survey of the landed resources of England set in motion at a council held by William the Conqueror with his magnates at Gloucester during Christmas 1085. Domesday Book and other written outputs of this survey cast enormous light on the nature of late Anglo-Saxon and early Anglo-Norman society, and on the tremendous impact of the Norman conquest. Domesday Book’s historical importance is, therefore, unquestionable, but there is much debate about how and why it was made. This article aims to contribute to the debate about its purpose by discussing what some of William the Conqueror’s royal acta reveal about the thinking of the king and his advisers close to the time when the great survey of 1086 was undertaken.