Domesday Book shortly after the end of the Saxon period in 1086. There is no suggestion in Domesday Book, however, that Brighton was a town – the manors were inhabited by villagers and smallholders, not burgesses. The Domesday Book also records that at the close of the Saxon period, Brighton was held by Earl Godwin, who was probably from Sussex and was one of the most powerful earls in England. Godwin had extensive land holdings in Sussex and was the father of King Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.