Etheldreda

Etheldreda, St, a daughter of the king of East Anglia, was born about 630, and was twice married, her second husband being Öswy, king of Northumbria. To escape, however, from the married state, she withdrew first to the monastery founded by her aunt, Ebba, on St Abb's Head, and then to the Isle of Ely (q.v.), where, in 673, she herself founded a monastic house. She died on 23d June 679, and was canonised, her festival falling on 17th October, the day of the translation of her body to its shrine in 695. Her name was popularly abbreviated or corrupted into St Audrey; and at a fair in the Isle of Ely, a common kind of lace was sold, which came to be known as St Audrey's lace. Hence tawdry, applied to any kind of frippery.