The Doomsday Key

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In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.

-PROPHECY OF SAINT MALACHY, 1139

The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.

-THOMAS MALTHUS, AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION, 1798

The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets.

-BARON NATHAN ROTHSCHILD, WEALTHIEST MAN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Notes from the Historical Record

During the eleventh century, King William of England commissioned a comprehensive survey of his kingdom. The results were recorded in a great volume titled the Domesday Book. It is one of the most detailed accounts of medieval life during that time. Most historians accept that this grand accounting was done as a means to gather a proper tax from the populace, though this is not certain. Many mysteries still surround this survey, like why it was ordered so swiftly and why some towns were inexplicably marked with a single word in Latin meaning "wasted." Furthermore, the strangeness of this census and its exacting detail earned the tome a disturbing nickname by the people of its time. It became known as the "Doomsday Book."

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