About 1480 the abbey was amongst the first in England to set up a printing press. On this the first English translation of the Bible was printed.
In spite of every loving care exercised, the relics of St. Alban enjoyed little rest. In Wulruth's reign as fourth abbot, the abbey suffered at the hands of the Danes. They carried away with them the bones of "the Proto-martyr" to Denmark, and there placed them in a convent at Owenses. They were found and brought back to the abbey.
Again, seventy years later, the Danes ravaged the country. But this time Ælfric II., eleventh abbot, resorted to artifice. He hid the bones in the walls of the church, and sent bogus relics to the monastery at Ely, giving the monks special charges to guard them well. On the retirement of the Danes from the country, Ælfric sent post haste to reclaim these bones. Ely at first demurred, but, giving way in the end, sent back some substituted bones. This disquieted the saint.
He appeared to Gilbert, a Benedictine monk, and to him disclosed the fraud, enjoining him to bring to light the true bones from their hiding-place. This was solemnly done. But Ely unexpectedly disclosed the artifice they had practised, and claimed that they were in possession of the true relics.
As neither party would yield, "the relics of St. Alban" for a hundred years received reverential and impartial homage both at St. Albans and at Ely. Eventually Ely disclaimed their right, on the appeal of Robert de Gorham, the eighteenth abbot, to the Pope.
In the history of the "Wars of the Roses," the city of St. Albans played a prominent part.
In 1455 Henry VI. set up his royal standard on the north side of the town, whilst the Yorkists, under the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker," encamped in the fields east of the town.
On May 3 of the same year in Holywell Street and its adjacent roads fought the two armies to decide the succession to the English throne. The Yorkists gained the victory. The king was taken a wounded prisoner.
On February 17, 1461, St. Albans was for the second time the scene of a terrible battle. The Lancastrians, with Queen Margaret at their head, defeated the Yorkists under the Earl of Warwick, and restored Henry VI. to the throne.