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.
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