Essays into numerous aspects of the Domesday Book, shedding fresh light on its mysteries. Compiled from the records of a survey of the kingdom of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085, Domesday Book is a key source for the history of England. However, there has never been a critical edition of the textand so, despite over 200 years of intense academic study, its evidence has rarely been exploited to the full. The essays in this volume seek to realize the potential of Domesday Book by focussing on the manuscript itself. There are analyses of abbreviations, letter forms, and language; re-assessments of key sources, the role of tenants-in-chief in producing them, and the nature of the Norman settlement that their forms illuminate; a re-evaluation of the data and its referents; and finally, fresh examinations of the afterlife of the Domesday text and how it was subsequently perceived. In identifying new categories of evidence and revisiting old ones, these studies point to a better understanding of the text. There are surprising insights into its sources and developing programme and, intriguingly, a system of encoding hitherto unsuspected. In its turn the import of its data becomes clearer, thereby shedding new light on Anglo-Norman society and governance. It is in these terms that this volume offers a departure in Domesday studies and looks forward to the resolution of long-standing problems that have hitherto bedevilled the interpretation of an iconic text. David Roffe and K.S.B. Keats-Rohan are leading Domesday scholars who have published widely on Domesday Book and related matters. Contributors: Howard B. Clarke, Sally Harvey, K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Andrew Lowerre, John Palmer, David Roffe, Ian Taylor, Pamela Taylor, Frank Thorn, Ann Williams.

Essays into numerous aspects of the Domesday Book, shedding fresh light on its mysteries. Compiled from the records of a survey of the kingdom of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085, Domesday Book is a key source for the history of England. However, there has never been a critical edition of the textand so, despite over 200 years of intense academic study, its evidence has rarely been exploited to the full. The essays in this volume seek to realize the potential of Domesday Book by focussing on the manuscript itself. There are analyses of abbreviations, letter forms, and language; re-assessments of key sources, the role of tenants-in-chief in producing them, and the nature of the Norman settlement that their forms illuminate; a re-evaluation of the data and its referents; and finally, fresh examinations of the afterlife of the Domesday text and how it was subsequently perceived. In identifying new categories of evidence and revisiting old ones, these studies point to a better understanding of the text. There are surprising insights into its sources and developing programme and, intriguingly, a system of encoding hitherto unsuspected. In its turn the import of its data becomes clearer, thereby shedding new light on Anglo-Norman society and governance. It is in these terms that this volume offers a departure in Domesday studies and looks forward to the resolution of long-standing problems that have hitherto bedevilled the interpretation of an iconic text. DAVID ROFFE and K.S.B. KEATS-ROHAN are leading Domesday scholars who have published widely on Domesday Book and related matters.

A series which is a model of its kind EDMUND KING, HISTORY A particular area of interest in this volume is the landscape and economy of late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England, with papers on castles, deer parks, marshlands, fisheries, and taxation. Two complementary papers discuss neglected aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry: gesture, and the representation of identity and status. Other papers survey the deaths of kings, the role of the Norman vicomte, the estates of the king's wife in Anglo-Saxon England, and lay piety. John Gillingham's Allen Brown Memorial Lecture considers right conduct in battle. C.P. Lewis is Reader in History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Contributors: JOHNGILLINGHAM, STEPHEN CHURCH, MARK GARDINER, ALBAN GAUTIER, MARK HAGGER, RYAN LAVELLE, MICHAEL LEWIS, ANDREW LOWERRE, GALE OWEN-CROCKER, HUGH THOMAS, HIROKAZU TSURUSHIMA, ANDREW WAREHAM, XIANG DONG WEI.

The purpose of castles - their position and their symbolic nature - is the main focus of this study, which takes into account the importance of their context in the medieval world, as part of a many-faceted society. The four south-eastern counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire and their castle buildings are looked at in detail to define the reasons for their locations - not just from a 'military-strategic' point of view, but a social and economic one as well.