Occupations & titles

Domesday Books records a considerable variety of occupations and offices, many readily identifiable: bakers, barbers, beekeepers, boatmen, brewers, carpenters, cobblers, cooks, corn-dealers, dairy maids, falconers, fishermen, foresters, fowlers, goatherds, goldsmiths ... merchants, millers, potters, sailors, shepherds, soldiers, washerwomen, and many others. Among the more unusual or even exotic, Domesday mentions gold-fringe makers, harpers, jesters, orphrey workers, and robe makers.

The following descriptions deal only with those occupations or titles which may be ambiguous, present problems of identification, or particular points of historical interest.

• almsman

• almswoman

• archer

• artificer

• baron

• beadle

• boatman

• bowman

• bursar

• butler

• chamberlain

• chancellor

• commissioner

• constable

• crossbowman

• deliverer

• dispenser,

• emissary

• engineer

• falconer

• farmer

• forester

• Guard

• gunner

• housecarl

• huntsman

• installer

• interpreter

• jester

• man-at-arms

• marshal

• reeve

• registrar

• sheriff

• staller

• steersman

• steward

• thane or thegn

• treasurer

• usher

• Young

For a complete list of titles, officials and occupations, see: Domesday Book: index of subjects, edited by J.D. Foy (Chichester, 1992).