Abstract

The Domesday Survey of 1086 recorded a wealth of information on the Anglo-Norman tax system. The survey data includes the tax assessments, incomes and resources of most estates in England. The assessments relate to an estate tax known as the geld. Details of the way the assessments were imposed and the rationale underlying the assessment process are no longer extant, but by analysing the relationships between assessments and estate characteristics, it is possible to discover the impact of the tax on landholders and infer the main features of tax policy. An earlier paper by McDonald (2002), describes research into how Domesday taxes were levied and the characteristics of estates and tenants that received favourable tax treatment in Essex. In this paper, the research is extended to a second Domesday county, Wiltshire.

Key words: Tax fairness, Domesday book, the geld, tax frontier.