Around the year 750, the Venerable Bede wrote about a woman named Ethelreda. She had been the daughter of King Anna, who in spite of his name, was a king, not a queen. He was the king of East Anglia, which was pretty small as kingdoms go — it was only the size of what’s now two counties in England. Ethelreda was also known as Æthelthryth, and after her rather tumultuous life (she was married twice, became a nun, and was chased across the land by another king), she became known as an Anglo-Saxon saint, Saint Audrey.
According to Bede, Ethelreda died from a growth in her throat, which she claimed was a religious punishment for irreligious behavior in her youth. In her case, the problem had been wearing necklaces. Nevertheless, various miraculous events were connected with her, and a small religious house she founded in the city of Ely was eventually built up into a large and well-known cathedral.
By the time the cathedral was built, Ethelreda was accepted as its patron saint (Saint Audrey, which was the name the Normans had given her.) As a patron saint with a famous cathedral, she needed a feast day for celebration. To be clear, she didn’t really need that, having died quite a long time before — but there was a feast day held in Ely on October 17, which was thought to have been her birthday. Or possibly the date she died. Or maybe just a date she liked. But never mind the logistics; the important thing was that if you found yourself in Ely on October 17 around a thousand years ago, you could attend the fair for the Feast of St. Audrey.
Medieval fairs were about the most festive occasions they had in those days, and throngs of people attended to share the feast, see the performances, hear the minstrels, and buy the goods offered by the vendors. The various fairs around the land featured different signature products, and at Ely what you’d want to get would be the thing that was a remembrance of St. Audrey herself. Maybe not the one she would have picked, though — it was a band of lace you’d wear around your neck. You know, like a necklace — which was exactly what St. Audrey thought killed her — but never mind the details. Everybody wanted to come home with “St. Audrey’s Lace.”
Another thing about Medieval fairs is the same thing you’ll often find at fairs today — the goods you purchase seem fine at the time, but when you get them home and take a closer look, you’ll probably notice the souvenir you bought is a bit shoddier and more cheaply made than you might have hoped. As they say, “the first thing to turn green in the spring is jewelry you bought at the fair in the fall.”
St. Audrey’s feast went on for centuries (even now it’s occasionally revived by the local Lions Club), and “St. Audrey’s Lace” eventually got shortened to “tawdry lace”. Over all those years, people began to notice the somewhat questionable quality of goods purchased at fairs. And that’s where we got the word “tawdry,” which today means something showy but of low quality.
