Domesday

Not Doomsday, but Domesday - it had to do with Domicile (I learned that recently.)

In doing a little family history research today, I made a very cool discovery. The Domesday book is available on line.

The Domesday book is something I had heard of at various times, but never figured I'd get a chance to see what it was really like.

In case you've never heard of it, the Domesday book is one of the oldest surviving public records in England. No one knows exactly what the purpose of it was for - most likely taxes - but

"at Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King." (National Archives)

The British National Archives has not only made this document available online, but it is searchable - and they translated it, so those of us not conversant in Latin can still understand it.

I think I'm going to have fun exploring this.