Æthelthryth, the queen who left two marriages and founded the abbey at Ely, died in 679 of a swelling on her neck. Bede says she welcomed it: as a girl she had weighed that neck down with needless necklaces, and this was the fair price. Her name wore down to Audrey, and by the 1500s the fair held for her at Ely was known for its neck ribbons, St Audrey’s lace. Said quickly, the saint lost the front of her name: tawdry lace, then just tawdry, for anything cheap and showy. I can’t find out whether anyone at that fair knew what they were doing. But for a long time people came to honour a woman who died sorry for her necklaces, and went home with something for the neck.