y, after having achieved many
praiseworthy actions."

8. #Ealdred.# He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to the
town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially those
caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also
collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)--tiles, stone, and
timber--with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.

9. #Eadmer.# He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the monastery
much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some timber to
be cut down.

10. #AElfric# is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He wrote
a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical recitation. Being
afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the relics of the
protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to Denmark, would
not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under the altar of
St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to Ely for
safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the true
relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did
being a prudent and circumspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely
would be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics
if they once got them into their possession. The Danish invasion was
soon over, the King being drowned, and then AElfric demanded from the
monks of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he
had exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they,
thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at
first refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones,
however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is
plain that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an
honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler,
however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of St.
Albans in sending spurious relics was "pious," while the behaviour of
the monks of Ely was "detestable and disgraceful"--but then the
chronicler was a monk of St. Albans. AElfric bought the royal palace of
Kingsbury and its land near the Abbey, demolishing the whole of the
palace except one tower. AElfric in 995 was promoted to the office of
Archbishop of Canterbury.

11. #Leofric.#[10] This Abbot was half brother to AElfric. During a great
famine he spent large sums in the relief of the p