In the 7th
century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her
royal position in order to become a nun. She was renowned for her saintliness
and is said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a
judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine
became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in
her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey. At
these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of
necklace called St. Audrey's lace, which by the 16th century had become altered
to tawdry lace. Eventually, tawdry came to be used to describe anything cheap
and gaudy that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.
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