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CHRONICLE OF DALE ABBEY. 19 
Moreover a certain man of great power, by name Ralph 
Fitz Geremund, at that time was lord of the moiety of the town 
of Ockbrook and of Alvaston cum soka. He, when one time he 
came from Normandy to England, was pleased to visit his lands 
and forests. And when, one day, seeking game, he had come 
with his dogs for the sake of hunting in his woods of Ockbrook, 
accompanied by a great band of men, he drew near to the place 
where lived the man of God, and seeing the smoke of the fire 
ascending from the cave of the man of God, he indignantly 
wondered most exceedingly by what appearance of impudence any 
one dared to make himself a habitation in his wood without his 
permission. Therefore approaching the place he found the man 
clothed with old rags and skins. When he had enquired of him 
how and whence and why he had come there, and the other 
had explicitly shown the reason, the same Ralph Fitz Geremund 
was smitten at the heart, and seeing the miserable case 
of the man of God, granted to him the place, and gave~him 
the tithe of his own mill of Burgh® for his support. And from 
that time until this day, hath that very tithe remained to the 
brethren serving God at Depedale. 
Thus far (are) the words of the aforesaid Lady Matilda. 
Others, too, she recounted, which will be arranged properly 
in their places. 
But, the old enemy of the human race—the crafty one— 
seeing the new soldier of Christ flourishing with the different 
flowers of the virtues, began to envy him, as he had done to 
other saints ; introducing frequently into his meditations the 
vanities of the world ; the asperity of his life; the almost 
unendurable solitude of the place, and various inducements 
to leave; as Humfrid (whom many who are alive now, 
knew), used to relate not only to me but also to many 
others. This Humfrid, he was wont to assert, had been a 
neighbour of the Gome of the Dale, of whom mention will be 
made hereafter. But the aforesaid man of God, conscious of the 
_ poison of the crooked serpent, by constant prayers, by frequent 
fastings and by holy meditations, by the grace of God, purged all 
How he 
changed 
his abode 
and con- 
structed 
the chapel 
of the 
blessed 
Mary 
