Quirky History!

Today I'm sharing a little bit of quirky history, which as you know, is the sort I love!

This memorial is called "Deadman's Plack" and it lies in the middle of what is left of Harewood Forest in Hampshire. It commemorates the murder in 963 of Earl Ethelwold, a Saxon noble, by King Edgar. Edgar was the great-grandson of  Alfred the Great and was known as "Edgar the Peaceful," something of a misnomer for a man renowned for his personal violence. He was the first  king to rule a consolidated England in the sense that he was ruler over the three major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex (which still leaves a fair percentage of England out of the equation). He is also credited with introducing important legal and religious reform into England.

So far, so good, but Edgar also had an eye for the ladies and a bad temper. He married at sixteen but then took a shine to a nun, Wulfrith, whom he kidnapped, seduced and made his mistress.  After the death of his first wife, Edgar's fancy then fell on Elfrith, whom he had heard was very beautiful. He sent his friend, Earl Ethelwold, to check her out. Elfrith was indeed a stunner and Ethelwold married her from under the king's nose, then reported back that she was actually rather ugly. Edgar smelled a rat, discovered what Ethelwold had done and killed him with a javelin in the back when they were out hunting in Harewood Forest. He married Elfrith soon after.

The monument was erected in 1825 by Lieutenant Colonel William Iremonger of Wherwell Priory who was the owner of Harewood Forest in the Regency period. A plaque in gothic lettering on the side of the monument tells the story of Edgar's murderous deed. This is the quirky bit for me – that Iremonger, who fought under Wellington in the Peninsular Wars, should be so taken with a tale hundreds of years old that he erected a monument in memory of a Saxon Earl.

©2011 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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