The Price of the Past

A Medieval Affair

The Domesday Book was completed 900 years ago, but it says little about the daily worries and concerns of the people whose land and animals are recorded in so much detail. Three films help evoke something of the real lives of those people. Film 1: Christopher Andrew learns from England rugby star Mark Bailey about the social and economic impact of the rabbit; Film 2: Patricia Morison explains some of the ways open to men and women of those times to cure their illness and complaints; Film 3: Norman Stone investigates why there has never been another Domesday Book - a register of just who owns this green and pleasant land. He has uncovered a story of centuries of privacy, secrecy and vested interests which has left England as the only country in Europe without a public and accessible register of land ownership.