The work opens with an analysis of the Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigienses and its relationship to Domesday Book, demonstrating how the I.C.C. serves as a copy of the original returns and provides a critical check on the Great Survey.
The text evaluates textual omissions, clerical blunders, and variant readings among parallel manuscripts, proving that Domesday is not sacrosanct and must be treated with rigorous editorial caution. The author then addresses the complex subject of tenure terminology, examining the precise legal and economic distinctions between 'sokeland' and 'thegnland', as well as the interchangeable use of terms relating to the transfer or retention of land. Proceeding to the technical aspects of the survey, the author settles long-standing historical puzzles by proving that the Domesday caruca uniformly consisted of eight oxen, and that the geldable hide was strictly composed of four virgates or one hundred and twenty acres.
This paves the way for a revolutionary theory of artificial hidation, demonstrating through exhaustive Hundred-by-Hundred analysis that assessments were systematically based on multiples of the five-hide unit rather than on actual area or real economic value. A parallel carucated system based on a six-carucate unit is uncovered across the Danish districts of England, supported by newly discovered surveys for Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The volume further explores the archaic institution of the firma unius noctis, the nature of medieval 'waras' or assessment defenses, the composition of the Domesday juries, and the true origin of the Inquisitio Eliensis as a response to the Conqueror's writ. Finally, the author corrects long-standing historical errors regarding the identification of territorial terms such as 'solanda', analyzes the early references to Domesday Book in the royal treasury, and concludes with extensive studies of the early knights' fees and comital records.
