Citizen or subject?

1. Citizen or subject? Medieval and early modern times saw an ongoing struggle between monarchs and subjects. Strong monarchs attempted to bend custom and practice to their own advantage. Subjects, at various levels of society, were determined to preserve their established rights and to obtain new concessions from strong and weak monarchs alike. The Crown had the right to call upon its subjects to come to its aid, both in time of war and by payment of taxes. But there was always a conflict between what the sovereign needed to sustain the strength of the monarchy and the country and what subjects were willing to contribute towards the development of national strength. This struggle is summed up by two key documents from the medieval period: Domesday Book and Magna Carta. These two documents form the core of our knowledge about how the realm was governed in medieval times. They also show that even in the distant past citizens and subjects could challenge and control the power that kings and queens exerted over them.

2. Domesday Book Domesday Book is Britain's most famous public record. It is also an example of how the machinery of government could be used to collect and record information about people and property. For medieval monarchs it was an invaluable source of information, and it provided the basis upon which all subsequent landholding was calculated. Besides being used to assess tax on land, it showed William the Conqueror who his wealthiest subjects were and their obligations to the Crown. But it also served as a safeguard for landholders, since it provided them with a formal record of their estates and helped to define their status in relation to the Crown. The Domesday Book consists of two volumes: Little Domesday, covering Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, which dates from 1086, and Great Domesday, dating from 1086 to 1090.

4. At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a detailed survey of lands held by himself and his subjects. Each shire was visited by royal commissioners who asked searching questions about the extent, use, ownership and value of the land - which aroused widespread resentment, and in some areas rioting. The resulting record, running to 900 pages and 2 million words of Latin, describes more than 13,000 places in England and Wales, the majority of which survive today. Originally it was kept at Winchester and was known as the Winchester Roll or King's Roll, but the native English nicknamed it the Domesday Book, after the biblical Day of Judgement, when every soul would be assessed and against which there could be no appeal. The first stage was to compile what is now called Little Domesday, covering Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, which was written up, neatly though hurriedly, by at least six scribes during the course of 1086. Although smaller in format than Great Domesday, it is less concise and includes detail about livestock.