Chatterton, The Rowley Poems (1778)

Duke Wyllyam gave commaunde, eche norman knights,
That been war-token in a shielde so fine,
Shoulde onward goe, and dare to closer fyghte.
The Saxonne warryer that did so entwyne,
Like the nesh bryon and the englantine,
Or Cornish wrastlers at a hocktyde game.
The Normannes, all emarchailld in a lyne,
To the ourt arraie of the thight Saxonnes came;
There ’twas the whaped Normannes on a pare
Dyd know that Saxonnes were the sonnes of warre.

The context for this source is important, because although it was written to look like it was written in the 15th century, it was actually fabricated to look like this in the 18th century. Tripp states this section was about “the Battle of Hastings” and described the work as “pseudo-medieval”. In the introduction to the text on Project Gutenburg: ““The Rowley Poems” by Thomas Chatterton is a collection of poems attributed to the fictional Thomas Rowley, a priest from Bristol, created in the 18th century. Written during the mid-18th century, this body of work captures the imagination of its author, a prodigy who sought to evoke the medieval past through poetic compositions that were later revealed to be largely fabricated.” Despite this attribution, the source remains important to explaining how Cornish Wrestling was practiced in the 18th century.

Thomas Chatterton (17), The Rowley Poems. Available online via Project Gutenburg, and via Archive.org.

Cited in Tripp (2009, 117).