The best source for assessing the impact of the Norman conquest is the Domesday Book, a survey of English wealth commissioned by William in 1085. For 13,418 places under William’s rule, Domesday Book contains data both on who the owner of the estate was and how valuable it was as measured by how much “geld”, or land tax, it could yield in a year. For some counties, it also tallied the population, the amount of livestock and even the ploughs. Its thoroughness suggested it could have been used for a final reckoning on the day of judgment—hence the name. Its 2m words of Latin, originally inscribed on sheepskin parchment in black and red ink, were recently digitised by researchers at the University of Hull. 

Domesday Book：ドゥームズデイ・ブックは、イングランド王国を征服したウィリアム1世が行った検地の結果を記録した世界初の土地台帳の通称である。1085年に最初の台帳が作られた。 本来、ドゥームズデイ（Doomsday）とは、キリスト教における「最後の審判」のことで、全ての人々の行いを明らかにし罪を決定することから、12世紀ごろからこの台帳をドゥームズデイ・ブックと呼ぶようになった。つづりが変わっているのは、dome が「家」を意味するからであろう。 内容は単に土地の台帳だけでなく、家畜や財産など細かく調査し、課税の基本としたもので当時としては画期的だった。
commissioned：作成を依頼する
yield：もたらす・産出する
tallied：を記録する
livestock：家畜
ploughs：すき
day of judgment：最後の審判の日
hence：それゆえ、その名前がついた。
inscribed：刻みつける
parchment：ヤギの皮から精製した紙

Respondents to the survey were generally asked to give answers corresponding to three time periods: 1066, 1086 and an intermediate period shortly after 1066, which reflects when the manor was first granted to its existing owner. This makes it possible to perform a before-and-after analysis of the conquest. 

manor：領地



The invasion certainly caused damage in the short term. In Sussex, where William’s army landed, wealth fell by 40% as the Normans sought to assert control by destroying capital. From Hastings to London, estates fell in value wherever the Normans marched. One academic paper from 1898 suggested that certain manors in the counties around London were much less valuable by 1070 than they had been in 1066. Despite this initial damage, however, the conquest ended up helping the English economy. Wonks have long supposed that immigration tends to boost trade: newcomers are familiar with their home markets and like to export there. The Normans were invaders, not immigrants, but Edward Miller and John Hatcher of Cambridge University conclude that the “generations after 1066 saw a progressive expansion both of the scale and the value of...external commerce.” English wool, in particular, was popular on the continent. 

Wonks ：オタク


manorial：領地の

Brentry also helped the financial system develop. Jews arrived at William’s invitation, if not command, and introduced a network of credit links between his new English lands and his French ones. Unhindered by Christian usury laws, Jews were the predominant lenders in England by the 13th century. The discovery of precious metals from central European mines also helped get credit going. Jews settled in towns where there was a significant mint. England was still a violently anti-Semitic place, though, and its Jews were expelled by the 14th century. 

Unhindered：妨害されていない
usury：高利貸し業
predominant：支配的な
mines：鉱山
mint：大量のお金
violently：ひどく
expelled：追い出される

The Normans took some policy decisions that would meet with the approval of modern economists: at a time of radical uncertainty, they ramped up infrastructure spending. Within 50 years every English cathedral church and most big abbeys had been razed to the ground, and rebuilt in a new continental style, says George Garnett of Oxford University. He points out that no English cathedral retains any masonry above ground which dates from before the conquest. 

radical：急進的な
ramped：増やす
abbeys：大修道院
razed：完全に破壊された
masonry ：石造建築の技術

New castles and palaces came too. A book on churchbuilding published in 1979 documents a sharp increase in new projects in the 12th century, leading to an eventual peak of new starts around 1280. All these changes helped the economy along. Domesday Book suggests that, contrary to popular belief, the English economy had fully recovered by 1086. Data for some estates can be spotty: but a conservative reading of the book shows that the aggregate wealth of England barely changed in the two decades following Brentry. Taken at face value, total wealth actually increased. Of the 26 counties for which there are decent data, half actually rose in value. 

eventual：最終的な 
belief：一般に信じらているのとは反対に
spotty：ムラが多い
face value：額面通りに受け取ると
decent：かなりの

Things only got better. Real GDP growth in 1086-1300 was probably two to three times what it was in the pre-conquest period. GDP per person grew strongly, too, perhaps from £1.70 in 1086 (in 1688 prices) to £3.30 by 1300. Mr Thomas suggests that productivity may have improved. To fund the infrastructure heavier taxes had to be levied on peasants, which “forced them to work harder”. 

Things only got better：物事はきっと良くなる

“In mad fury I descended on the English of the north like a raging lion” People had more money, and they wanted to spend it. According to a paper by John Langdon and James Masschaele, prior to the 12th century only a very small number of fairs and markets can be documented. About 60 markets are mentioned in Domesday Book. But traders and suppliers bloomed as the economy expanded: around 350 markets existed by the end of the 12th century. 

fury：激怒
fairs：市　いち
bloomed：繁栄する

ノルマン人がイギリスを占領した時に一時的に経済はガタガタになったが、それもすぐに回復した。当時の台帳によれば結果としてGDPの成長率は２、３倍も伸びた。ユダヤ人も来たが、イギリス人は彼らを嫌い、結局追い出してしまった。こうして、ノルマン人がイギリスを征服したが、結果として、イギリスは発展することがでいた。

１０００年も前にこうしたノルマン人とフランス人がイギリスを占領していたことは我々は知らない。またユダヤ人を追い出したことも知らない。こうした歴史をしらないと、イギリス人が誰なのかを理解することはできないだろう。日本のように単一民族ではないのだ。そうした時代背景はその国の政治経済外交を理解する上では極めて重要なことだ。

木曜日。昨日は海野塾があった。いつもとからない多忙な一日だった。今日は来年の水曜日海野塾の予定表を作成する。今までの予定の修正をする。あとは四月に出版する本の原稿修正。日本の精神の内容整理。ではまた明日。