iew without horror the dungeons which remain in some of the
towers: they recalled to our memory the truly diabolical cruelty of King
John, by whose order twenty-two prisoners, confined in them were starved
to death. Matthew of Paris, the historian, says, that many of those
unfortunate men were among the first of the Poitevin nobility. Another
instance of John's barbarous disposition was his treatment of Peter of
Pontefract, a poor hermit, who was imprisoned in Corfe Castle for
prophesying the deposition of that prince. Though the prophecy was in some
measure fulfilled by the surrender which John made of his crown to the
Pope's Legate, the year following, yet the imprudent prophet was sentenced
to be dragged through the streets of Wareham, tied to horses' tails."[2]

[2] Maton's Observations, vol. i. p. 12.

The exact period when this fortress was erected is unknown; though some
circumstances render it probable that it was built by King Edgar. That it
did not exist previously to the year 887, or 888, the time when the
Nunnery at Shaftesbury was founded, is certain, from an inquisition taken
in the fifty-fourth of Henry the Third; wherein the jurors returned, "that
the Abbess and Nuns at Shaston (Shaftesbury) had without molestation,
_before the foundation of the Castle at Corfe_, all wrecks within
their manor of Kingston, in the Isle of Purbeck." Mr. Aubrey, in his
_Monumenta Britannica_, observes, he was informed, "that mention was
made of Corfe Castle in the reign of King Alfred; yet it seems very
improbable that this should be the fact; for if it had actually existed in
the time of that monarch, it would surely have been more publicly known.
The short reigns that succeeded would not allow time for so extensive an
undertaking; but Edgar enjoyed more peace than almost any of his
predecessors, was superior in wealth and power, and a great builder; he
having founded, or repaired, no fewer than forty-seven monasteries." To
him, then, the origin of this castle may with the greatest probability be
ascribed, as his second wife, Elfrida, resided here at the commencement of
her widowhood. During this residence was committed the foul murder on King
Edward, Edgar's son and successor, of which William of Malmesbury relates
the ensuing particulars.

"King Edward being hunting in a forest neare the sea, upon the south-east
coast of the countie of Dorset, and in the Isle of Purbecke, came neare
unto a fair and stronge castell, s