Eastward the adjoining county is Derbyshire. An examination of the institutions for this county has been made by the Rev. Dr. Cox for his work on the _Churches of Derbyshire_. The result of his studies may here be [p147] given almost in his words. In May, 1349, there is evidence that the plague had reached Derbyshire. At that period the total number of benefices in the county was 108, and the average number of institutions registered yearly during the century was only seven. In 1346 the actual number had been but four, in 1347 only two, and in 1348 it was eight. In the year of the plague, 1349, no fewer than sixty-three institutions to vacant benefices are registered, and "in the following year (many of the vacant benefices not being filled up till then) they numbered forty-one." In this period seventy-seven of the beneficed clergy died; that is considerably more than half the total number, and twenty-two more resigned their livings. "Of the three vicars of Derby churches two died, whilst the third resigned. The chantry priest of Our Lady at St. Peter's Church also died. The two rectors of Eckington both died, and of the three rectors who then shared the rectory of Derley two died and one resigned. The rectories of Langwith and Mugginton, and the vicarages of Barlborough, Bolsover, Horsley, Longford, Sutton-on-the-Hill, and Willington were twice emptied by the plague, and three successive vicars of Pentrich all fell in the same fatal year. Nor were the regular clergy more fortunate, for the abbots of Beauchief, Dale, and Derley, the prior of Gresley, the prior of the Dominicans at Derby, and the prioress of King's Mead, were all taken."[269] The same author has called attention to some obituary notes in the calendar prefixed to the Chartulary of Derley abbey. "A glance at this obituary," he says, "is sufficient to draw the attention of the reader to the remarkable number of deaths in the year 1349. . . . Of the character of the plague we can form some idea when we consider the extent of its ravages in a single household—a household the most wealthy of the neighbourhood, and situated in as [p148] healthy and uncrowded a spot as any that could be found on all the fair hillsides of Derbyshire. Within three months Sir William de Wakebridge lost his father, his wife, three brothers, two sisters, and a sister-in-law. Sir William, on succeeding to the Wakebridge estate, through this sad list of fatalities, appears to have abandoned the profession of arms and to have devoted a very large share of his wealth to the service of God in his own neighbourhood. The great plague had the effect of thoroughly unstringing the consciences of many of the survivors, and a lamentable outbreak of profligacy was the result."