History Shorts: snippets of local history

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 blin...

It's now associated around the world with Guinness, wearing green, and claiming a bit of Irish ancestry. But the feast day of Saint Patrick, 17 March, should perhaps be a more sombre affair - this after all is considered to be the date of the saint's death.  While 17 March is the accepted date, the actual year varies and could be 461, 492 or 493. Patrick is generally credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century of the Common Era, though he either followed in the footsteps of Palladius or was one and the same as Palladius - the later Annals of Ulster seem to mix the two. Muirchú, writing a hagiography in the late seventh century, tells us that an angel came to St Patrick to tell him about his death, and that he shouldn't make his way to his 'beloved' Armagh to die but go to Saul (near present-day Downpatrick and where he perhaps founded his first church after returning to Ireland on his Christian mission). "Return therefore as I tell you, ...