ABSTRACT
A better understanding of the position of the abbey of St Albans in 1290 can be reached by first examining the development of the cult of Alban at the abbey, the prestige the abbey acquired through privileges and great buildings, and its physical and economic domination of southern Hertfordshire. These will be explored in turn. It was through the cult of St Alban in particular that the monastery received its historical identity. The foundation legend of Alban, protomartyr of England, who died in c.209 or possibly in 254,1 was written by the monk-chronicler, Roger Wendover, in the first half of the thirteenth century2 and further elaborated by his more famous continuator, Matthew Paris (c. 1200-59). The account of these two authors in the Chronica Majora3 represents the version of the history of the monastery of St Albans which the monks wished to propagate.
