top left - drawing of the “Doomsday Book”, top right - drawing of William I. “the conqueror” in front of a map showing the course of the “Norman Conquest”, bottom left - William as Duke of Normandy (middle) sitting between his half-brothers Odo (left) and Robert (right), scene depicted in the tapestry of Bayeux, bottom right - Henry Percy “Harry Hotspur”, 1st Earl of Northumberland shortly before his death in the battle of Shrewsbury 1403.
“Doomsday is near. Die all, die merrily.” Hotspur in “Henry IV” (IV/1)
“Doomsday” is known as the day of the last judgement and it additionally is quiet a striking motive in Shakespeare’s plays. Not only Hotspur hints at that very special date, also Friar Laurence in “Romeo and Juliet” (“their stolen marriage was Tybalt’s doomsday”, V/3) or even Buckingham in “Richard III” (“Why, then All-Souls’ day is my / body’s doomsday”, V/1) refer to it.
Furthermore, “doomsday” occurs in a pretty significant document of early British history. After William, Duke of Normandy had won in the famous “Battle of Hastings” in 1066 whose 950th anniversary we are going to celebrate in 2016, thereby conquering England and hence crowning himself new king, he gave instructions to precisely examine the conditions of his country, registering them in a big book, the so called “Doomsday Book” (eventually completed in 1086). As William I. was a complete stranger in the kingdom he put himself in charge of and to the people for whose welfare he now had to care, a document listing all properties and belongings of his subjects was a fairly forward-thinking and progressive idea. Yet, the new king not only used these valuable information in order to improve the living standards in England, but also to figure out which estates he could claim for himself to fill his own purse. In the end, he gave half of England to several noblemen and kept the other half for himself which makes him one of the ten richest men ever lived.
