60 THE MYSTERY OF CORFE. 



the body by the stirrup, fled towards Cirencester. The 

 corpse was found and hurriedly buried afar off on an unfre- 

 quented moor, where it was alleged to have been subsequently 

 found, apparently owing to the intervention of a certain wise 

 priest of Donhead. Many miracles were reported from the 

 site of the interment, and ultimately the body was translated 

 to Shaftesbury. 



Now the story unfolded here is so circumstantial that it is 

 difficult to believe that it is a pure invention, and if it be 

 borne in mind that Elfrida undoubtedly had property near 

 Sherborne, the site of which would agree almost exactly with 

 the description of the house as being near Somerset and, as 

 I read the sentence, only a league therefrom. At any rate 

 at some date prior to 971, Elfeah, * her relation, had left her 

 by will his property at or near Sherborne , and it is curious 

 that this fact appears to have been overlooked by previous 

 writers. On the other hand it is quite possible that Gaimar 

 or his authority may have also made a mistake, and may have 

 assumed that Elfrida's house at which the murder took place 

 was at Sherborne, simply because they were aware of the 

 fact that she had property in that locality. Curiously enough 

 it is the only spot in Dorset which has been connected with 

 the murder of which this fact can be definitely asserted, the 

 supposition that she had property at Corfe geate or Corvates 

 being supported only by inferential evidence. It may be 

 objected that the nearest part of Wiltshire is too far from 

 Sherborne to render the story probable, but although the 

 distance is about 16 miles, it is not asserted by Gaimar that 

 the ride started in Wiltshire ; only that the king had dined 

 there, and as the time of the murder is stated by almost every 

 authority to have been eventide, there is a margin of time 

 which would be of ample duration for the accomplishment of 

 a far longer ride. And again, the description of the site of 

 the burial of the body on a desolate moor afar off, does not 



* Birch, Vol. III., p. 432. 



