The evil stepmother did it

A sign in the little village of Corfe Castle in Dorset proclaims that Edward the Martyr, King of Wessex, was treacherously stabbed by his stepmother Elfrida (also Ælfthryth or Alfrida) in AD 978. What evidence is there that the evil stepmother did it? Well, none of course!


Edward's reign was short, lasting less than three years before his violent death. Byrhtferth, writing around 1000, is an almost contemporary source. He describes the murder as an act of treachery but does not name Ælfthryth as responsible: 

One day towards evening the remarkable and elected king, seeking the consolations of brotherly love, arrived at the house where his beloved brother was living with the dowager queen, as we have said. The magnates and leading men went to meet him, as was only fitting; he [the younger son] remained inside with the dowager queen, his mother. Those magnates had agreed among themselves a wicked plot: they were possessed of so damnable an intention and so murky and diabolical a blindness, that they did not fear to lay hands on God's anointed.

The oldest surviving version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that he was killed in 978 and no later version blames Ælfthryth.

It's true that Ælfthryth wielded significant influence for a woman of her time. She is considered the first Queen of England, after being anointed during a second coronation organised by her husband, King Edgar—an unusual distinction. She was regent for a while after her son Æthelred (dubbed much later as The Unready) succeeded his half-brother when he was aged 11 or 12.

But still no contemporary sources appear to lay the blame for Edward's death with her. Later tales, probably designed to perpetuate the cult around "saint" Edward and the untimely death of a young monarch, tell of Ælfthryth conspiring to kill the king and of a miracle at the place where she allegedly stored his body. I'm not ruling out simple misogyny. It's worth repeating: there is no evidence of Ælfthryth's involvement.

What is certain is that they really like Edward in Corfe Castle. As well as the sign directly implicating Elfrida/Ælfthryth, the parish church is dedicated to Saint Edward King and Martyr, and a stone plaque from 18 March 1978 commemorated the millennium of the murder.




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