During the last years of his reign, King William (the Conqueror) had his power threatened from a number of quarters. The greatest threats came from King Canute of Denmark and King Olaf of Norway. In the Eleventh Century, part of the taxes raised went into a fund called the Danegeld, which was kept to buy off marauding Danish armies.
One of the most likely reasons for the record to be commissioned, was for William to see how much tax he was getting from the country and therefore how much Danegeld was available.
The Domesday survey is far more than just a physical record though. It is a detailed statement of lands held by the king and by his tenants and of the resources that went with those lands. It records which manors rightfully belonged to which estates, thus ending years of confusion resulting from the gradual and sometimes violent dispossession of the Anglo-Saxons by their Norman conquerors. It was moreover a 'feudal' statement, giving the identities of the tenants-in-chief (landholders) who held their lands directly from the Crown, and of their tenants and under tenants.
The fact that the scheme was executed and brought to complete fruition in two years is a tribute of the political power and formidable will of William the Conqueror.
Little Saxham is not mentioned separately; the only references are to 'Saxham', as follows:
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In SAXHAM, 6 free men, under the patronage of Edeva the Rich before 1066; the jurisdiction [is] in Norton; 1 carucate of land. 2 smallholders. 2 ploughs. Woodland, 2 pigs. Value always 10s. St Edmund's holds SAXHAM as a manor; 5 carucates of land. Always 12 villagers; 6 smallholders. Always 3 ploughs in lordship; alway 6 men's ploughs. Always 4 slaves. Meadow, 5 acres, woodland, 80 pigs. Now 4 cobs, 15 cattle, 36 pigs, 100 sheep. Value then £6; now [£]10. It has 1 league in length and 5 furlongs in width; 7d in tax. In SAXHAM Albert and Fulcher hold from the Abbot 3 free men with 2½ carucates of land. 8 smallholders. Always 4 ploughs. Meadow, 3 acres, woodland at 5 pigs; ½ mill. Two of these [free men] could grant and sell the land, but the full jurisdiction and patronage still belonged to St. [Edmund's]; the third could not [grant and sell] without the Abbot's [permission]. Value always 80s. Two parts of a church with 6 acres of land. It has 8 furlongs in length and 5 in width; 7d in tax. Others hold there. In SAXHAM 1 Freeman of Withgar's, with 15 acres. Always ½ plough; Value 3s. |