The transformation of Birmingham from the purely rural manor recorded in Domesday Book started decisively in 1166, with the purchase by the lord of the manor, Peter de Birmingham, of a royal charter from Henry II permitting him to hold a weekly market "at his castle at Birmingham", and to charge tolls on the market's traffic. This was one of the earliest of the two thousand such charters that would be granted in England in the two centuries up to 1350, and may have recognised a market that was already taking place, as lawsuits of 1285 and 1308 both upheld the claim that the Birmingham market had been held without interruption since before the Norman conquest. Its significance remains, however, as Peter followed the investment with the deliberate creation of a planned market town within his "demesne", or manorial estate.