The Domesday Book

In Our Time: History

04/17/14

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47m

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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Domesday Book, a vast survey of the land and property of much of England and Wales completed in 1086. Twenty years after the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror sent officials to most of his new territories to compile a list of land holdings and to gather information about settlements, the people who lived there and even their farm animals. Almost without parallel in European history, the resulting document was of immense importance for many centuries, and remains a central source for medieval historians.

With:

Stephen Baxter Reader in Medieval History at Kings College London

Elisabeth van Houts Honorary Professor of Medieval European History at the University of Cambridge

David Bates Professorial Fellow in Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Previous Episode

Strabo's Geographica

April 10, 2014

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47m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica. Written almost exactly two thousand years ago by a Greek scholar living in Rome, the Geographica is an ambitious attempt to describe the entire world known to the Romans and Greeks at that time. Strabo seems to have based his book on accounts of distant lands given to him by contemporary travellers and imperial administrators, and on earlier works of scholarship by other Greek writers. One of the earliest systematic works of geography, Strabo's book offers a revealing insight into the state of ancient scholarship, and remained influential for many centuries after the author's death. With: Paul Cartledge AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge Maria Pretzler Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University Benet Salway Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL Producer: Thomas Morris.

Next Episode

The Sino-Japanese War

May 8, 2014

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46m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45. After several years of rising tension, and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, full-scale war between Japan and China broke out in the summer of 1937. The Japanese captured many major Chinese ports and cities, but met with fierce resistance, despite internal political divisions on the Chinese side. When the Americans entered the war following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese found themselves fighting on several fronts simultaneously, and finally capitulated in August 1945. This notoriously brutal conflict left millions dead and had far-reaching consequences for international relations in Asia.

With:

Rana Mitter Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford

Barak Kushner Senior Lecturer in Japanese History at the University of Cambridge

Tehyun Ma Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Exeter

Producer: Thomas Morris.