The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a
chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar
(including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the
mouldings being scraped; the Perpendicular is finely scraped.
[Illustration: SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.
Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303
A.D., and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and
another of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth
century that the monastery was founded.
The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand
of his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took
possession of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil
reputation of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the
favour of Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved
to found a monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the
site of the martyrdom.
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