England's first Norman King, William I, who defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold in the battle of Hastings of 1066, decided one year before his death to make a list of all the landholdings in his kingdom. He ordered his commissioners to collect information about the size and value of each estate, the names of the owners and what animals they kept. His intention was to find out how much money he could get in tax from each region of his country.
In the Domesday Book of 1086, "Bristemestune" (Brighton) was valued at £12 and was charged a rent of 4,000 herring. Brighton's fishermen were mainly interested in herring and made long journeys from the English Channel to the North Sea in order to make their living.
The Domesday Book was one of the largest surveys made for many centuries and recorded a total of over 13,000 settlements. By this time, 65% of the country was farmland while only about 15% was woodland.
Under the feudal system, the villagers who made up most of England's population held small strips of land. The most important person in a settlement was the Lord of the Manor, who was granted land by the king. William rewarded the Norman people who had helped him conquer England by appointing them as barons to govern England during his trips back to Normandy and making them landholders in different parts of the country. The villagers were expected to work on the land and to serve the local lord. The king expected the lords to recruit villagers to act as soldiers when he needed them to fight wars. Money (tax) was also needed to pay for these wars.