It’s all very well Greece wanting its rightful treasure – but the Brits have left some pretty good artefacts lying around the planet. Surely it’s time they came home?
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Now, Dr. Stephen Baxter, Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford, has discovered some surprising facts about the depth, speed, and sophistication of the survey which led to the famous Domesday and other texts, which formed a useful medieval database that is still examined by historians today.
An Extensive Yet Efficient Survey
One of the most surprising finds from the study published in the
English Historical Review is that the first draft of the survey covering England south of the River Tees was completed in just 100 days. Dr. Baxter says:
“Domesday Book is at once one of medieval England s best known and most enigmatic documents. The reasons for and processes behind its creation have been the subject of debate among historians for centuries. This new research, based on the earliest surviving Domesday manuscript, shows the survey was compiled remarkably quickly and then used like a modern database, where data is entered