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HistoryThe Norman Conquest, 1066–108738 min★★★ difficulty

Lesson 7: Domesday verdict

Domesday allows a final enquiry into ownership, government and local continuity twenty years after Hastings.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Historical enquiry: Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims
  • Britain 1066-1901: Understand the impact through time of the Norman Conquest on society and the establishment of feudal government
  • Historical enquiry: Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources, and how and why historians have interpreted the past in different ways

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the impact through time of the Norman Conquest on society and the establishment of feudal government

Key learning points

  • • Reading the survey
  • • Reach a judgement

This lesson at a glance

  • 38 minutes
  • 18 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

impactnormanconquestsocietyestablishment

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

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Lesson 7: Domesday verdict

An English teaching video on this topic from TED-Ed. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the impact through time of the Norman Conquest on society and the establishment of feudal government

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know how land, castles, the Church and government changed after 1066, so you can now weigh change against continuity.

Recap: Lesson 5: Land, lordship and governmentRecap: Lesson 6: Church and culture
3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Domesday Book
The 1086 survey of landholding, value and resources in England.
Survey
A systematic record gathered for a purpose, here royal revenue and rights.
Continuity
Something that stays broadly the same over time.
Judgement
A supported conclusion that weighs evidence on both sides.
4

Your lesson plan

Part 4 of 18

Lesson brief

How far did 1066 change England?

By the end, you will be able to

  • • Place events accurately in the conquest chronology
  • • Explain causes and consequences rather than list them
  • • Use the named evidence with attention to provenance

Resources

  • • Domesday Book (1086)
  • • Bayeux Tapestry (c.1070s)
  • • Lesson notes and marked knowledge check
4 minRecall the chronology and frame the enquiry
15 minRead the textbook explanation and build the argument
11 minInterrogate the archive evidence in context
8 minAnswer the checks and write a supported conclusion
5

Learning cycle

Part 5 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Reading Domesday

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

Reading the survey

Entries compare land and value across time, but through categories designed for royal rule and revenue.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

Domesday was completed in…

8

Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

Its main viewpoint is…

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Reaching a verdict

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Reach a judgement

Compare political elite, landholding, government, Church, language and peasant life. State where change was greatest and where continuity survived.

12

Quick check

Part 12 of 18

Quick check

Strong conclusion?

13

Investigate evidence

Part 13 of 18

Evidence 1 of 2

primary

Domesday Book

William I's royal commissioners, 1086

The survey records landholders, resources and values before and after the Conquest for most of England.

It was made for Norman government and taxation. It is exceptionally detailed about property, but records people through categories useful to rulers.

Think like a historian

What could a ruler learn from this record, and whose life is hardest to see?

Source: The National Archives, Domesday Book education resource

View the archive record ↗
14

Investigate evidence

Part 14 of 18

Evidence 2 of 2

object

Bayeux Tapestry

Unknown embroiderers, probably Canterbury, c.1070s

The embroidered narrative shows Harold's oath, the crossing, Hastings and Harold's defeat from a Norman-centred viewpoint.

Made soon after the conquest, this is both narrative and political artefact. Its pictures require interpretation; captions are in Latin.

Think like a historian

Whose story does the embroidery centre, and where might it simplify events?

Source: Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, UNESCO Memory of the World

View the archive record ↗
15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • People often treat Domesday as a neutral photograph of England. It records what the Crown wanted to tax and control.
  • People often answer 'everything changed'. A strong verdict says what changed most, for whom, and what stayed the same.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Lesson 7: Domesday verdict

5 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Domesday Book was completed in…

  2. 2. Which changed most sharply by 1086?

  3. 3. Which shows continuity?

  4. 4. A strong conclusion should…

  5. 5. Domesday is useful to historians because it…

18

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

Sources for this lesson

Use these for the source work task below.

Domesday Book

primary

William I's royal commissioners, 1086

The survey records landholders, resources and values before and after the Conquest for most of England.

It was made for Norman government and taxation. It is exceptionally detailed about property, but records people through categories useful to rulers.

Source: The National Archives, Domesday Book education resource

View the original record ↗

Bayeux Tapestry

object

Unknown embroiderers, probably Canterbury, c.1070s

The embroidered narrative shows Harold's oath, the crossing, Hastings and Harold's defeat from a Norman-centred viewpoint.

Made soon after the conquest, this is both narrative and political artefact. Its pictures require interpretation; captions are in Latin.

Source: Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, UNESCO Memory of the World

View the original record ↗

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand the impact through time of the Norman Conquest on society and the establishment of feudal government

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources, and how and why historians have interpreted the past in different ways

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