medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Alban (d. prob. 3rd cent.) Alban is the protomartyr of England.
@He should of course be the proto-martyr of the British, since England did
not exist as a political concept at that time.
All versions of his story are strongly legendary in character.
@Not in the same class as St George who looks strongly like a re-jigged
Greek myth! Many of us feel Alban would make a better Patron Saint for
England as he is better authenticated.
According to these, Alban was a native of Verulamium (St. Alban's) and was
raised as a pagan.
@He was a RESIDENT in Verulamium and a Roman citizen. His race and
birthplace are unknown. Albanus/Albinus is a good Roman patrician name.
A priest converted him,
@Alban gave shelter to a Christian priest fleeing persecution and was so
impressed by the man's sanctity that he asked to be baptised.
whereupon Alban himself began proclaiming
> the gospel.
@??? No time. Only possibly to his own household.
He was arrested
@Soldiers came for the fugitive priest. Alban changed clothes with him and
allowed the priest to escape possibly wearing Alban's toga. Alban was
arrested in the priest's shaggy cloak. For this reason, the priest was later
beatified as "Saint Amphibulus" which nick-name means "the man in the
cloak".
beheaded.
@Alban was tried in the usual way and made the usual profession of faith and
was condemned to death. He was first dragged towards the theatre to be
thrown to the beasts (and there IS a Roman theatre in Verulamium) but when
it was discovered he was a Roman citizen, he was taken from the vicinity of
the theatre to the nearby hill and beheaded.
When all this happened is
> unclear; the various sources speak of the persecutions under Septimius
> Severus (c. 209), Decius (c. 255), or Diocletian (c. 305).
@The Diocletian date is in Bede but is almost certainly wrong. The Decius is
favoured by archaeologists because it seems to fit with the Romano-British
cemetery under the vicinity of the mediaeval abbey; the Septimus Severus
date - which for what it is worth I favour - is based on an interprestation
of the account of his visit to the shrine of St Alban by Saint Germanus of
Auxerre sometime prior to 447AD.
The earliest account of the martyrdom of Alban fits the geography of
Verulamium so accurately and even the miracles can be explained by the
context, that we have no doubt as to his historical validity. Verulamium -
which is currently under the big public park in the city of St Albans -has
some of the best-preserved and displayed civilian Roman remains in Britain.
The former Benedictine monastery (re-founded by King Offa of Mercia in
793AD) is now an Anglican Cathedral and we celebrate the Feast of St Alban
on June 22. I have just got back from a weekend there which explains my
delay in posting this.
Brenda M. Cook
Council Member,
The Fraternity of the Friends of St Albans Abbey, 1994-2002.
May I recommend:
ALBAN and ST ALBANS: Roman and medieval architecture, art and archaeology;
edited by Martin Henig & Phillip Lindley. BAA, 2001. Conference transactions
of the British Archaeological Association, no 24. ISBN 1-902653-40-8 (Hbk)
1-902653-39-4 (pbk)
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