Saint Alban, said to have been the first martyr for Christianity in Britain. He was born in the town of Verulamium, went to Rome in company with Amphibalus, a monk of Caer-leon, became a Christian, and returned after serving seven years in the Roman army. It is generally believed that he suffered martyrdom at the time of the persecution of Diocletian, but authorities differ as to the precise date. Bede fixes it at 286; Usher reckons it among the events of 303. About 400 or 500 years after his martyrdom, Offa, king of the Mercians, built a large monastery in honor of him. Around this monastery grew up the present town of St. Albans in Hertfordshire.