6 



her own son, who ascended the throne as Ethelred II. Young 

 Edward chanced to be hunting in the neighbourhood of Corf e, and 

 without attendance, he unsuspiciously stopped at the Castle ; when 

 the Queen mother came out to receive him, and while in the act 

 of drinking a cup of mead, he was attacked from behind and 

 stabbed. Finding himself wounded, he spurred his horse, and 

 falling, was dragged by the stirrup ; his lifeless body was found 

 lying on the adjoining heath. Probably the scene of the murder 

 was not where the Castle now stands. 



The detention of Princess Eleanor, daughter of Geoffrey 

 Duke of Brittany, and granddaughter of Henry II. of England, 

 is another event worthy of notice in connection with the Castle's 

 history. Here this Princess was imprisoned by her uncle King 

 John, who had murdered her brother Arthur at Eouen in the year 

 1200 ; twenty of his adherents were thrown into the dungeons of 

 Corf e Castle, to be starved to death or stealthily got rid of. Princess 

 Eleanor was happily not thus treated, but permitted to live com- 

 paratively in luxury. She was joined by the two daughters of 

 William, King of Scotland, who had been given up to the custody 

 of King John in the year 1209 as hostages. The last historical 

 notice of the Castle must be its gallant defence by Lady Bankes, 

 in the absence of her husband, during the Parliamentary war, 

 and its subsequent capture in February, 1645, by the Eepublican 

 Party, when the Castle was reduced to its present ruined condi- 

 tion. Corfe is not named in Doomsday Book, but there is 

 evidence that it was known at that period as belonging to the 

 Crown. In Eichard the Second's reign the Castle is stated to be 

 an ancient royal demesne, and that a portion of the manor of 

 Kingston to the extent of one hide had been given to the King 

 by the Abbess in exchange for the church of Gillingham, and 

 that on this hide of land the King had built the "Castle of 

 Wareham," which Mr. Bond considers to be an erroneous 

 transcript for Corfe. The Castle was probably built by William 

 the Conqueror ; it was certainly in a complete state of defence in 

 the reign of Henry II. Occasional notices of repairs are met 

 with up to the time of Eichard II., but there are no details of 

 any new building until Henry III. and Edward I., when great 

 additions were made, and the fortifications of the outer ward 

 appear to have been completed at this period. An action recorded 

 in the Plea Eolls of 6, Edward I., is worthy of notice, as it 

 proves the date of the tower called Batavant (BoutavantJ, and 

 the external face of the walls of the south-western tower. The 

 action was instituted against Elias de Eobyn, the constable of the 

 Castle, by William Clavell, the possessor of a Quarry at Holme, 

 for carrying away stones from thence. As the rest of the Castle 

 is built of a different material, it is probable the tower and 

 adjoining walls were built from the iron-sandstone of Mr. 

 William Clavell's Quarries. 



