David Roffe

I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity, but after a fairly thorough lookthrough, I've discovered that the only way I'm going to get anything out of this book is by becoming a heavy scholar of Domesday and read at least a dozen other scholarly works to even recognize the other scholars who are dropping vague hints about the per capita income of such and such serf under such and such minor noble before or after the Norman invasion.

Just because I could do such a thorough invasion, show more assuming I also had access to such specialized libraries, doesn't mean I have the patience to wind my way through what is apparently, to my very casual eye, an incestuous survey and/or repudiation of other's painstaking research.

I was looking for good non-fiction, not something completely unreadable.

I'd recommend staying away unless you're already very familiar with the Domesday field. show less

A full translation of the Hundred Rolls texts for Stamford in Lincolnshire is preceded by an extensive critical introduction analysing the context of the inquiry, its conduct, and the use to which the records can be put. The rolls provide an unparalleled insight into an urban community in times of war and peace and richly illustrate the possibilities of the material as a source for the social, political and economic history of 13th-century England. This pioneer work also includes a full show more index and helpful tables. show less