Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England

The essays offer a close analysis of a large medieval land survey and its related records, using those returns to reconstruct taxation, landholding, and local jurisdiction. They classify rural populations (serfs, villeins, sokemen), examine the organization and size of vills and manors, explain geld taxation, soke and seignorial justice, and outline feudal tenure and military obligations. Emphasizing a retrogressive method from the record back to earlier institutions, the author integrates legal, fiscal, and topographical evidence to show how documentary detail illuminates social and administrative change.