THE MYSTERY OF CORFE. 69 



upon the vulnerable side of Wareham, at that time the most important 

 town in Dorset. 



" Coryates " (in Roger Hovenden) is merely a variant equivalent of 

 Corf gate ; and in the absence of any evidence locating it at that period 

 in the Portesham neighbourhood, it may be assumed to indicate the 

 traditional site. It is not likely that the King's body would have been 

 carried to Wareham from a place so distant as the farm now called 

 Coryates. 



Gaimer's rhyming " History " was written in Normandy, and 

 coming from the hand of a total stranger to England can hardly be 

 accepted as a rival of the national chronicles. 



Several recent writers of high repute uphold the generally -received 

 story. Hodgkin, .in his "Political History of England," writes: 

 " There can be no doubt that he [Edward] was foully murdered at 

 Corfe in Dorset. We have no contemporary evidence connecting his 

 step-mother with the crime ; but the silence, as all the chroniclers for 

 the next 30 years would be somewhat in fear of Elfrida and her son, 

 cannot be counted as strong evidence in her favour. On the other 

 hand, there is some evidence that Corfe was the place where Elfrida 

 was at the time dwelling with her boy, and all the later historians 

 speak unhesitatingly as to the quarter from whence the blow came. 

 The misery which fell upon the nation in the long and dreary 

 reign of Elfrida's son is heaven's answer to the cry of the innocent 

 blood." 



Sir James Ramsay says " There is no reason to connect his 

 [Edward's] fate with the ecclesiastical question that was dividing the 

 country . . . the few charters of his reign show him enjoying the 

 support of Alfhere of Mercia, the leader of the antimonastic party ; and 

 to him he was eventually indebted for the honourable sepulture with- 

 held from him by his own people, the men of Wessex." (The 

 Foundations of England, I., 332.) 



Prof. Ransome writes : " Edward, who was not more than thirteen, 

 became king ; but three years later he was murdered by a party 

 which had always been in favour of the accession of his half-brother 

 Ethelred ; and Dunstan, though he remained Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, was deprived of all political influence." (History of England, 67.) 



