page_title: Dale Abbey (ruin)
section_title: Abbots of Dale within the Order
hierarchical_section_title: Dale Abbey (ruin) / Abbots of Dale / Abbots of Dale within the Order
caption_attribution_description: English: Foljambe Monument, All Saints' church, Bakewell. Sir Godfrey de Foljambe (1317-1376) was a prominent landowner, judge and politician in fourteenth-century England
context_page_description: Dale Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Stanley Park, was a religious house, close to Ilkeston in Derbyshire. Its ruins are located at the village of Dale Abbey, which is named after it. Its foundation legend portrays it as developing from a hermitage, probably in the early 12th century. After several false starts, it was finally constituted as an abbey in 1204. It was affiliated to the Premonstratensians, an order of canons regular in which it played, at times, a leading part among English Houses. It acquired a large number of small properties, concentrated in areas of the East Midlands, developed a network of granges and appropriated a number of lucrative parish churches. Its discipline and reputation varied considerably, particularly in the 15th century, and it seems to have fallen away from the originally austerity. By 1536 its income was well below the threshold set for the Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries. Although there were accusations of grave immorality, the abbey was allowed to pay a fine to continue its existence until 1538.
context_section_description: Dale's abbots had a defined, nuanced rôle within the hierarchy of the Premonstratensian or Norbertine order. As Dale was a daughter house of Newsham, it was subject to canonical visitation and correction by the abbot of the mother house. However, abbots of Dale were sometimes asked to accompany the abbots of Newsham and Welbeck in their ministry. In 1450, for example, the abbot of Dale, John Spondon, went with the abbot of Newsham to supervise an abbatial election at Welbeck. The canons decided not to exercise their right of election and asked the two abbots to make an appointment for them. In July 1515 Abbot Richard Nottingham of Dale appended his seal to the election of Edmund Green as abbot of Halesowen Abbey, signifying that he had assisted the abbot of Welbeck at the election and approved the result.
  Within the order as a whole, Dale was autonomous' represented by its own abbot not only in the provincial chapter, which regulated the affairs of the order in England, but also at the general chapter held at Prémontré Abbey in north-eastern France. Dale's abbots might serve on steering committee, the diffinitores, that did the real work of the provincial chapters, as did John Stanley at a chapter held at Leicester in 1479, and Richard Nottingham at Lincoln in 1495.
  Some abbots of Dale had a wider impact on the order. Most prominent was Abbot William, who served at Dale for two and a half years before being elected abbot of Prémontré, and thus head of the whole order, in October 1233. Although widely regarded as a prudent man, he proved an austere reformer: the chronicle of Dunstable Priory remarks in eodem capitulo ardua plurima sunt statuta — "in that chapter there were many rigorous statutes." He quickly ruffled feathers in the order, carrying out a visitation of the Italian abbeys and proposing to change the dress of the lay brothers, and was forced to retire, amid general discord, to Bayham Abbey.
  Abbot John of Horsley is known to have played a very active part in the affairs of the English Premonstratensians. About 1309 he was by asked by Abbot Adam of Prémontré to intervene in a problem at Egglestone Abbey in County Durham, where the canons were refusing to accommodate or support their retired abbot, William. He was to reconcile William with the convent of Egglestone or find a suitable home for him in another abbey. John wrote to the abbot of Easby or St Agatha's, near Richmond in Yorkshire, asking him to take on the case, as he had important business to transact for Dale in the presence of Walter Langton, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. However, he was politely rebuffed. It seems he then instructed Welbeck Abbey to make arrangements for William's accommodation, as he soon also received a letter from the abbot of Welbeck, incensed at what he considered the threatening and cajoling tone of John's messenger. He pointed out that Egglestone was already in the process of mounting an appeal, so that he would be left footing the bill if William were accommodated in his abbey. John replied that his canon had not exceeded his powers, as his mandate came from the head of the order, and he made clear that he was prepared to stand his ground. The matter dragged on for some years and was finally resolved when Abbot Adam gave plenary powers to the abbot of Newsham to resettle William and he was transferred to a house elsewhere — possibly Torre Abbey in Devon.
  Meanwhile, the abbot of Prémontré became involved in a bitter conflict with Edward II over the order's right to extract subsidies from the English houses, which had been prohibited by legislation under Edward I in 1306. In 1310 John of Horsley was present at the provincial chapter that wrote to Abbot Adam of Prémontré, excusing the English abbots for the failure to attend the general chapter to render their subsidies, pointing out that they would be punished if they did so. Adam wote back, threatening excommunication if they did not immediately pay their dues. The Abbots of Langdon and Sulby were odered to publish the judgement of the general chapter and to collect the s
caption: The Foljambe monument in All Saints' Church, Bakewell
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