ALBAN, SAINT, the first martyr of Britain, is said to have been born at Verulamium (St. Albans, Hertfordshire) and to have served for seven years in Rome in the army. On his return to Britain he is said by Gildas to have been put to death as a Chris tian during the persecution of Diocletian (c. 286-303), according to Bede, at St. Albans. As there is no certainty that the persecu tion of Diocletian extended to Britain it is possible that his martyr dom should be ascribed to that under Decius (2 50-2 51) or that of Valerian (259-26o). A church was built on the place of his mar tyrdom, c. 793. A monastery was subsequently added, and around it the present town of St. Albans gradually grew up. Pope Adrian IV., who was born in the neighbourhood, conferred on the abbot of St. Alban's precedence over his fellow abbots, a right hitherto attached to the abbey of Glastonbury. St. Alban is commemo rated in Catholic martyrology on June 22 and in the Church of England on June 17.
See U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques (19os), i. 95; D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (1862), I. i. 3-34, ii. 688.