those contained in administrative records. These accounts are more objective and accurate because the motivation for writing them was not to influence others. These records can be divided into two categories: surveys and serial documents. Surveys cover an estate or region on a particular date, rather like a modern inventory. Manorial surveys were very common throughout the Middle Ages, in particular in France and England, but faded as serfdom gave way to a money economy. Fiscal surveys came with the rise of the money economy, the most famous and earliest being the Domesday Book in 1086. The Book of Hearths from Italy in 1244 is another example. The largest fiscal survey was of France in 1328. As kings continued to look for new ways to raise money, these fiscal surveys increased in number and scope over time. Surveys have limitations, because they are only a snapshot in time; they do not show long-term trends, and they tend to exclude elements of society. Serial records come in different forms. The earliest are from the 8th century and are land conveyances, such as sales, exchanges, donations, and leases. Other types of serial records include death records from religious institutions and baptismal registrations. Other helpful records include heriots, court records, food prices and rent prices, from which inferences can be made. Demographic tables of Europe’s population The tables below are estimated by . Major scholars on medieval demography Thomas Robert Malthus – founder of demography centered the Malthusian model of economic history. Michael Postan – prominent scholar of the Malthusian model of medieval demographics. Robert Brenner – prominent scholar of the Marxist model of medieval demographics, centered on social class and economic structure instead of population growth alone. Karl Julius Beloch Fernand Braudel See also Historical demography Classical demography Early modern demography Crisis of the Late Middle Ages Dark Ages (historiography) Life expectancy List of famines List of disasters Little Ice Age Medieval household Migration Period Slavery in medieval Europe References Bibliography . Further reading . . . Medieval society Demographic history