XX XIX. 



would have been avoided, which has led many persons to imagine that 

 this castle was the scene of the murder of King Edward the Martyr, the 

 incident which perhaps has most contributed to the notoriety of Corfe. 

 That, of course, was impossible, as Edward was assassinated in 978 a 

 century before the oldest part of the existing castle was built. The 

 chroniclers relate that Edward, while hunting in the Royal Chase of 

 Purbeck, turned aside to pay a visit of courtesy to his stepmother 

 Elfrida, whose house was at Corvesgate. Seizing the opportunity thus 

 unexpectedly offered of securing the throne of England for her own son 

 Ethelred, she caused him to be treacherously murdered by her attendants. 

 We have no means of ascertaining whether the " domus Elfridae," 

 Elfrida's house, was situated on this hill, or in some part of the town, for 

 all traces of it have disappeared which might have aided the antiquary 

 in his investigations. I need not dwell on the particulars of Elfrida's 

 crime, her real or pretended remorse, the retributive calamities which 

 befell the country, following, if they did not fulfil, the malediction which 

 Dunstan pronounced on Ethelred's reign, as these are known to all 

 students of history. A house standing by the road to Wareham, about a 

 mile hence, called St. Edward's Cottage, is said to mark the spot where 

 the body of the murdered king was found, but it is more probable that 

 it was hastily buried at once in a place near the scene of the crime, 

 where a church was built to his memory, and which was most likely 

 the predecessor of the present parish church, dedicated to St. Edward. 

 The corpse was soon afterwards removed to the church of St. Mary's at 

 Wareham, and finally interred with royal honours in the Abbey of 

 Shaftesbury. We meet with few incidents of an important character 

 connected with Corfe Castle during the reigns of the first six Norman 

 and Plantagenet kings, lint it had evidently become a fortress of great 

 strength and importance 20 years after the Conqueror's death, as it was 

 selected by King Henry I. as the place of imprisonment of his unfortunate 

 elder brother, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, before his removal to 

 Cardiff, where death released him from his wearisome captivity of 28 

 years. In the troubled reign of Stephen, the Castle declared for the 

 Empress Matilda, and was held for her till the accession of her son, 

 Henry II. It occupies a rather prominent place in the time of King 

 John, who found it a suitable place for the exercise of some of those 

 cruel and tyrannical acts which disgraced his reign. His nephew, Arthur 

 Duke of Brittany, rightful heir to the crown of England, and his beautiful 

 sister Elinor, the damsel of Bretagnp, having fallen into his hands after 

 the battle of Mirabeau, he caused the former to be put to death, but 

 Elinor was brought to England and imprisoned first in Corfe Castle } and 



