Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar the brother of Ælfthryth's first husband, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia. Supporting the unsuccessful claim of Æthelred were his mother, the Queen dowager, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. On 18 March 978, while visiting Ælfthryth at Corfe Castle, King Edward was killed by servants of the Queen, leaving the way clear for Æthelred to be installed as king. Edward was soon considered a martyr, and later medieval accounts blamed Ælfthryth for his murder. According to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", King Edward was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978. As the king developed into a cult figure, a
Edgar, King of Scotland in reference to the succession to the crown. Edgar, the king's eldest son, assumed it as his lawful right, but Donald, King Malcolm's brother, having usurped authority, opposed him with great cruelty, and at length the brave youth [Edgar] was murdered by his uncle. Alexander [I], however, his brother, slew Donald, and ascended the throne; being thus the avenger as well as the successor of his brother...". Benjamin Hudson dismisses the story as "completely false". But its existence points to the circulation of "incorrect" tales about the monarchs of the late 11th century. Verses of "The Prophecy of Berchán" allude