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Anna, Anglo-Saxon king of East Anglia, had a daughter called Etheldreda, who became queen of Northumbria. She had an inordinate fondness in her youth for fine lace neckerchiefs, and when she later developed a fatal tumor of the neck, she regarded it as divine retribution for her former extravagance. After her death in 679 she was canonized and made patron saint of Ely in eastern England. In the Middle Ages fairs were held in her memory, known as "St. Audrey's fairs" (Audrey is a conflated form of Etheldreda), at which lace neckerchiefs were sold. These were often made from cheap gaudy material, and by the 17th century the eroded form tawdry was being used generally for "cheap and gaudy."
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