84 HISTORY AI\D CHARTULARY OF THE ABBEY OF DARLEY. 



In the eighth chapter of the famous Chronicle of Dale, 

 at the time when the Austin Canons from Calke were 

 endeavouring to establish a lodgment at that site, in the 

 days of Henry II., there is an interesting reference to Darley. 

 " About the same time flourished Albinus, abbot of Darley, 

 brightly manifesting so many of the requisites of a holy and 

 virtuous life, that the interior of the cloister and the church, 

 and the most inward sanctuary of religion, may be perceived 

 to this day to be redolent with the fragrance of such a father." 



The history of the house of Darley has been hitherto so 

 much neglected that it may be well to indicate the chief 

 sources whence information may be gained outside the Public 

 Records. 



Among the Cotton MSS. of the British Museum is a 

 chartulary of Darley Abbey, which lacks, however, its opening 

 pages.* The part remaining (127 folies) is in good condition, 

 and was for the most part compiled towards the end of the 

 thirteenth century, but with some later insertions. It is, 

 strictly speaking, a chartulary or transcript of charters, and 

 contains no monastic gossip nor list of abbots. 



In 1780, Cole, the antiquary, made a transcript of a thin 

 quarto of twenty-two pages, then in the possession of the 

 Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge, which was part of 

 a chartulary of Darley Abbey in a hand of the reign of 

 Richard III. Most of the 112 charters there given are identical 

 with those of the older chartulary, but there are a few later, 

 including some of Abbot Laurence de Burton, 1353-1383.! 



A comparison of several charters yields a little information 

 respecting the founder which corrects the guesses of Hutton 

 and later writers. Hugh was the son of Simon of Derby, 

 and a chaplain of the church of St. Peter in that town. He 

 was rural dean of Derby at the time of the foundation ; but 

 it was an office that not infrequently changed hands, and 



* Cott. MSS. Titus C. ix. Bound up with it and forming the first 

 thirty-eight folios of the volume, is a fifteenth cent, register of Evesham Abbey. 



fAdd. MSS. 5822, ff. 151-191. 



