Taking a break in hunting one day in 975, young King Edward called in at the palace in Corfe hoping for a drink. As he drank, one of his stepmother Æalfthryth’s servants knifed him to death. Amid much jubilation at court, Edward was buried casually at Wareham, and preparations began to place his stepbrother Ethelred on the throne.

However, rumours soon spread of miracles at Edward’s humble grave. Ælfthryth felt obliged to visit too, but no horse would carry her there. Conscience-stricken, she completely reversed her former policy (which she had pursued in defiance of Edward) of suppressing England’s monasteries, retired to a convent herself, and let Edward be buried in honour at Shaftesbury Abbey.

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