SaintFamous
Edward the Martyr's murder
He came to visit his brother and never left Corfe alive.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Shattered castle ruin on a steep hill
- Legend from
- Anglo-Saxon chronicle tradition
- Tone
- Dark history
A boy king, a visit to his brother, and a knife in the back.
In March 978 the teenage King Edward rode to Corfe to visit his half-brother Æthelred and was stabbed to death. The National Trust says it is thought his stepmother Ælfthryth ordered it so that her own son could be king. Early accounts name no killer. His body was hidden, then taken to Wareham and later to Shaftesbury, where miracles were reported and he was venerated as a saint. Edward's story made Corfe infamous long before the Norman castle stood here.