The 1279-80 hundred rolls are one of the most important sources for later thirteenth century England, yet this is the first comprehensive study of the inquiry which brought them into being. A Second Domesday will be an indispensable working tool for historians and is based on the latest knowledge of the returns. More of these are being discovered all the time and one of the aims of this book is to stimulate the recognition of other surviving texts. The book places the inquiry in its historical context, continental as well as English. This is followed by an examination of its purpose and whether or not it was conceived deliberately as a second Domesday Book. Central to the study is a consideration of the geographical range of the inquiry, how it was conducted and the way in which the returns were compiled. The way in which the inquiry was used, by historians as well as contemporaries, along with the introductory chapters will be particularly helpful to students. The book concludes with a description of all known returns, which, together with the appendices, are designed to assist future users.
Reviews
Lucid and scholarly, Raban's book is definitive and will never be replaced...[a] splendid book. * David Carpenter Reviews in History *
...a much-needed study...Raban's specific aim in A Second Domesday? is to provide professional historians and amateur enthusiasts with a 'complete working tool', and students and teachers with a picture of the inquiry in its 'political, social, and historiographical' setting (p.12). She definitely succeeds...It will certainly be the 'working tool' for historians that Raban aimed to produce. * Cambridge University Press, Continuity and Change, Vol 21, part 3 *
The material, and the issues surrounding it, are set out logically and lucidly in a way that makes the book a pleasure to use. All those who have cause subsequently to study these records will turn first to this volume. * The English Historical Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199252879
Author Sandra Raban
Format Hardback
Page Count 250
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 147mm * 20mm