The name of the book should give it away really, what its purpose was. The Doomsday Book. Also known as the Great Survey (there’s that word again, great). Created over 1,000 years ago in 1086, it was the first step towards where we are now in my mind. A register, where everybody in the land of England was visited (apparently), and all their assets, property, land etc were listed, so they could be taxed or taken off them. And tax people they did, for various things over those years, working out that it wasn’t enough to only take on the main things, they needed to reduce people’s wealth, while at the same time as increasing theirs, same shit different day…

The Digital Doomsday Database full article

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