medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
As a former resident of St Albans (Herts) and a Friend of the Abbey, I'll
make a stab at a quick answer to this. From memory. If I can dig out the
correct books, I'll try and give some proper refs later.
The Roman city of Verulamium is situated still under a park at the foot of
the hill on which the mediaeval and modern city of St Albans is situated.
Between the site of the Roman city and this hill runs the river Ver, now
much less full of water than it was because of modern extraction techniques.
The description of the trial, condemnation and execution of Alban fits
perfectly with the *local* topography.
The basilica where he was probably tried is underneath the modern St
Michael's Church. The theatre where he was almost executed until they
remembered that he was a Citizen is just the other side of the modern bypass
from St Michael's. The bridge over the Ver where the first miracle occurred
(that the bridge collapsed but no one was drowned and the execution squad
walked dry shod over) is still marked by a prehistoric standing stone
marking a ford - (and under the car park of the local pub at this point they
have recently dug up the remains of a Roman brew-house ...) The route taken
by the execution squad up to the top of the hill is a very ancient trackway
now known as Fishpool Street. St Albans Abbey - still called "The Abbey" by
the locals although it suffered as per usual from the pals of Henry VIII -
now the (Anglican) Cathedral and a very lively Christian community it is
too - is traditionally built over the spot where the bones of A were found
by King Offa after a convenient dream. Recent archaeology round the outside
of the Abbey (Martin Biddle) has uncovered a Roman cemetery but the results
re Alban himself were inconclusive. There is no trace of the miraculous
spring (miracle 2) but there is a Holy Well on the other side of the hill on
the road leading up from the eastern end of the Verulamium site. (Miracle
3 - the executioner's blinding) would naturally leave no trace.)
It is assumed that A was executed "outside the city wall" in or near the
Roman burial ground on the hill, and buried close to the execution spot. And
that the site of his grave was cherished and remembered by the faithful of
the local Xtien community until it was identified by Germanus of Auxerre on
his visits to Britain in the 4th/5th century.
The Loeb editor is talking through his hat. He has not done his homework and
he has not consulted the Vitae of St Germanus. Mind you, most of the
compilers of hagiographic dictionaries haven't done that either.
The general opinion now is that the story of A fits the local situation so
precisely that it is true in essentials and could not be pinned to any other
place. However Bede for all his integrity is wrong about the date: A was not
a victim of Diocletian but much earlier. Opinion is divided as to whether he
is mid 3rd C or 208/9 the years when Septimus Severus was in Britain. This
would make the arrival of Christianity in Britain very early indeed and (for
that reason ?) is discounted by some scholars. I favour the latter and have
somewhere the notes for a paper on this. If the group is interested, I'll
try to write something less scrappy.
Brenda M. C.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher M. Mislow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 1:01 PM
Subject: [M-R] St. Alban heads west
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I have a geographical question raised by the vita of St. Alban.
Bede (Historia Ecclesiastica I.7) states that, after being taken from his
home in Verulamium (now St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, England) to a judge
who condemned him, St. Alban came to a river ('pervenit ad flumen') en
route to his execution. According to the edition of Bede I'm reading (Loeb
Classical Library, J.E. King, trans.), this river is the Coln. The River
Coln, however, is a full 2 degrees west in current Gloucestershire. To go,
in the early Fourth Century, from just north of modern-day London nearly
across the entire breadth of Britain would have been quite a journey.
Although Bede doesn't say so, I presume that Alban ended up so far west
because that was where the judge who condemned him sat. Yet, given the
Roman penchant for decentralizing authority over local matters, this seems
rather far unless, perhaps, the western locale was the situs of the crime
-- i.e., the place whence the fugitive priest hidden by St. Alban had fled.
Any explanations (or speculations!) would be most welcome.
--Christopher
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