... In 978, on April 14th, King Edward was cruelly murdered, apparently by the contrivance of his step-mother Aelfthryth.  According to the earliest version of the story which survives—that in St. Oswald's life—the young king paid a visit to the royal vill of Corfe, where his little brother and the queen-dowager were residing. As he sat on his horse at the gate, the retainers of Aelfthryth thronged around him, and her butler brought him out a horn of wine to drink his welcome. While he was thus distracted, one thegn suddenly grasped his right hand, pretending to kiss it, while another stabbed him from behind on the left, inflicting a mortal wound. (England Before the Norman Conquest, Oman, 1910)