oor, devoting to this
purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the
rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels assigned to
his own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this
conversion of the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not
originally intended.

[10] The "Gesta Abbatum" reverses the order of the two Abbots,
AElfric and Leofric, but this is probably wrong. It is recorded
that Leofric had the offer of the archbishopric, but declined,
saying that his brother AElfric was far more fit for the post
than he, and it is supposed that when AElfric became Archbishop
in 995, Leofric succeeded him as Abbot.

12. #Leofstan.# This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the Confessor)
and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and cleared
away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads safer
for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector of
the Abbey he assigned him a certain manor; the service was faithfully
performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and
conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say,
fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At
Leofstan's death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.

13. #Frithric.# This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold as leader
of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred, Archbishop of
York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen. William
accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the
Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to
him the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm,
which former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say,
William soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of
St. Alban's more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office
as Abbot and retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely
pretended that he took with him to their monastery the precious relics
of St. Alban the Martyr.

14. #Paul of Caen# (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the
history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of
Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who
had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like
Lanfranc, adopted in England the style