Part 16: The island was then called Albion, and inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it. They therefore passed through all the provinces, […]
The earliest visual evidence of wrestling in Devon is roof bosses at Exeter Cathedral, dated to around the 1280s. Roof bosses are carved decorative features placed at the intersections of vaulted ceilings in medieval churches and cathedrals. Beyond their structural role in covering joints, they often depict religious scenes, mythical creatures, or glimpses of everyday […]
A legislative decree issued during the Synod of Exeter held at the Church of St. Mary Major. Clause XIII (De Cimeteriis) explicitly prohibits secular activities on consecrated ground to prevent “pollution” of holy sites through “dishonest games.” The text provides one of the earliest known ecclesiastical evidence of organised wrestling (“luctamina”) as a popular and disruptive social […]
This is Robert Mannyng of Brunne (Robert of Brunne), The Chronicle, Part 1, composed about 1338, which translates Wace’s Roman de Brut for its British section. This version is from the Lambeth Palace MS 131 readings, which is why the spellings (“byhoued”, “ilk oþer”, “laught”, “hente”) sit in the north-east Midlands dialect rather than Wace’s […]
The Virgin Annunciate. c 1350-60. Wells Somerset Hall of the Vicar’s Choral. Available online via Alamy. With grateful thanks to Stephen Curtin who provided this from his private collection.
[S57] The wrestlers. Two men, stripped to the waist and wearing braies [medieval breeches] are wrestling, each holding the other by a short scarf around the neck. Available to view online. Note that the 1350 date is the earliest, as it’s been dated to the latter half of the 14th century. Gloucester 57.1.jpg Gloucester 57.2.jpg […]
“As he went, by a bridge was a wrastling, And there taryed was he, And there was all the best yemen Of all the West Countrey. A full fayre game was set up ; A white bull, up ypyght ; A great courser with sadle and brydle With gold burnished full bryght. A payre […]
Johannes de Bado aureo (c. 1440–1450). MS. Laud Misc. 733, fol. 22v. Copyright holder. Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. Terms of use: CC BY-NC 4.0. For more information, please see https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/terms/. Further information available via Manuscripts and Archives, University of Oxford.
The Harleian Manuscript (MS.3542) Also known by the names ‘Harley’, ‘Man yt wol’. Until 17 May 1715 when the Harleian 3542 Manuscript came into the hands of the owner (from whom it now takes its name), the manuscript was in the possession of clerics around Honiton. The manuscript, dated to around 1440-1450, was therefore around […]
MS B 26 is the Kriegsbuch (“war-book”) of Ludwig von Eyb the Younger (1455–1521), a Franconian nobleman who served as Hofmeister (court steward) to successive Counts Palatine and set down a number of cultural-historical works, including a Turnierbuch. He compiled the manuscript in or around 1500, dedicating it to Philip “the Upright” (1448–1508), Elector Palatine […]
Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea (“Collected Martial Arts and Exercises”) is a Spanish fencing manual by Pedro Monte printed in Milan in 1509.[1] It was an attempt to capture the entire art of war, including all styles of armed and unarmed combat of which Monte was aware. Full information is available on Wiktenauer. “In greater […]
Roof bosses in the ceiling of St Lawrence Church, Shelley’s Close, Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire. UK. Available via Alamy. We do not have permission to reproduce this artefact in our archives.
Commissioned by Abbot Robert Elyot between 1515 and 1526, this set of 28 original carved oak seats is renowned for its fascinating and sometimes humorous, unconventional medieval subject matter. [N14] Two nude men wrestling, grasping each other by a neck-band; a third, also wearing a loose neck band, stands with his head on the shoulder […]
Today, the 13th, it blows a terrible gale, and as the Kings were unable to joust, they went to the lists to see some Bretons and Englishmen wrestle. ‘Venice: June 1520, 11-20’, in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 3, 1520-1526, ed. Rawdon Brown (London, 1869), pp. […]
The Meeting of Kings Henry VIII and King Francis I (Tapestry), c. 1520. Private Collection. Artist : West European Applied Art. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images). Shown here under the terms of common use (Common uses include: Newspapers, magazines and books (except for covers), editorial broadcasts, documentaries, non-commercial websites, blogs and social media […]
Sir Thomas Elyot is believed to have been born in Wiltshire. XVII. Exercises wherby shulde growe both recreation and profite. WRASTLYNGE, is a very good exercise in the begynnynge of youthe, so that it be with one that is equall in strengthe, or some what under, and that the place be softe, that in fallinge […]
4th October 1532: “To Parker, yeoman of the Robes, for doublets for the guard to wrestle in before the King and French king at Calais, 44s.” Henry VIII: Privy Purse Expences’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531-1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 747-762. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp747-762 [accessed […]
29th July 1534: “On Sunday next the peace between England and Scotland will be proclaimed at Guildford, with such a wrestling as has never before been seen; for which purpose some have come out of Cornwall and Devonshire to show their cunning. Sent two caps and a purse.” ‘Henry VIII: July 1534, 26-31’, in Letters […]
At Chasteubriant the French King shewed my Lord Marquess great plesure and disport, sometime in plaing at tenice, sometime in shooting, sometime in hunting the bore, somtime at the palla malla, and somtime with his great boisterlie Britons wrastling with my lorde’s yemen of Cornwall, who had much a do to gete the upper hand […]
A printed Letters Patent bearing the coat of arms of Mary I, renewing the royal commission originally granted by Henry VIII in 1540 to the Corporation of Masters of the Science of Defence. The single-sheet document contains both Latin chancery formulae and English text granting fencing masters authority to arrest, prosecute, and imprison unauthorised martial […]
THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WHEN Brute had entred this land, immediatlie after his arriuall (as writers doo record) he searched the countrie from side to side, and from end to end, finding it in most places verie fertile and plentious of wood and grasse, and full of pleasant springs and faire riuers. As he thus […]
Book 1, Page 1: Cornwall, the fartheſt Shire of England Weſtwards, hath her name by diuers Authors diverſly deriued. Some (as our owne Chroniclers) draw it from Corineus, couſin to Brute, the first Conqueror of this Iland : who wrastling at Plymmouth (as they say) with a mightie Giant, called Gogmagog, threw him ouer Cliffe, […]
On Tueſday being the fift day of Auguſt, and the great feſtiuall for our Kinges Maieſties preſeruation from Gowries treaſons : The Kinges Maieſtie of Denmarke ran at the Tilt in perſon, and diuers other noble perſonages; where his Maieſtie expreſt an able and induring bodie, how it was gouernd by an invincible mind, inricht […]
The Cornish-men they are stronge, hardye and nymble, so are their exercises violent, two especially, Wrastling and Hurling, sharpe and seuere actiuties; and in neither of theis doth any Countrye exceede or equall them. The firste is violent, but the seconde is daungerous: The firste is acted in two sortes, by Holdster (as they called it) […]
Britannia’s Pastorals is a long, unfinished pastoral poem written by William Browne of Tavistock(c. 1591–1643), with the first book published in 1613 and the second in 1616. While the main work was released around these dates, Browne was actively contributing to other pastoral projects, including The Shepherd’s Pipe (1614), during this period. In the 5th […]
Reference ORIGINAL MODERNISED The praise of Plymouth (p6, First Song) The christning of that Bay, which beares her nobler name. Vpon the British coast, what ship yet euer came That not of Plymouth heares, where those braue Nauies lie, From Canons thundring throats, that all the world defie? Which, to inualue spoile, when th’English […]
Dramatis Personiae: PUPPY, a Wrestler (a Western Man). Reference (pp. 233-234): Enter EDGWORTH. Quar. ’Slid, I forgot that, pray you pardon me.—Look, here’s our Mercury come; the license arrives in the finest time too! ’tis but scraping out Cokes his name, and ’tis done. Winw. How now, lime-twig, hast thou touch’d? Edg. Not yet, sir; except you would go with […]
Swetnam was a prominent Fencing Master from Bristol, who was The Master of Defence in Plymouth for many years. This is core material within the DWS. Full modernised version by the DWS, currently being prepared. THE SCHOOLE OF THE NOBLE And Worthy Science of Defence. Being the first of any English-mans invention, which professed the […]
This scene from Middleton and Rowley’s tragicomedy demonstrates the period’s theatrical interest in the collision between rustic simplicity and urban sophistication. Chough (the name itself suggesting a crow or fool) is a Cornish gentleman whose obsession with wrestling and inability to comprehend social nuance creates both comedy and pathos. The ‘roaring school’ refers to establishments […]
Modernisation of the ‘August Tale’: An Englishman named Burrel, born in Cornwall, served as a guard to King Henry VIII. In his bold youth, he was known for great strength— so much so that the King himself wanted to test him. But Burrel held back out of respect. He wouldn’t throw or hurt the King […]
The Devonshire Wrestling Society archive has been assembled over more than twelve years of systematic research into the history of Westcountry martial arts. When this work began, the documentary record was sparse and dispersed: sources were few, descriptions were thin, and access required navigating institutional barriers that most researchers would not have the time or resources to overcome. The archive now comprises 421 records — 322 newspaper articles (1778–1947), 35 manuscripts, 11 posters, 48 books, one letters patent, two cemetery inscriptions, and two memorials — spanning approximately one thousand years of history across five defined periods and three core disciplines: wrestling, cudgelling, and pugilism.
The material has been drawn from archives, museums, and libraries at both local and national level, as well as from diaspora communities. Access varied considerably: some holdings were straightforwardly available through public or gated online repositories; others required direct institutional inquiry, formal licensing, or payment. Licence fees for individual items have, in some cases, reached several hundred pounds. Items acquired under licence are retained for private research purposes only and are not published. A small number of items from private collections likewise remain unpublished, pending permission. All records for which publication rights have been secured are made freely and openly available.
The cost of the archive — in time and in money — has been substantial. It is offered without charge because the traditions it documents belong to the communities that produced them, and because those who come after should not be required to repeat the effort already expended.
Every record in the archive was acquired through a consistent five-stage process:
Identification. Awareness of potential sources was established through systematic searches of public and private institutional indexes worldwide, and through direct correspondence with subject specialists already engaged with relevant holdings.
Access. Depending on the institution, access was obtained through online repositories, direct application, or formal licensing. Correspondence was initiated with several hundred institutions over the course of the project. Where institutions confirmed the absence of relevant holdings, this was recorded. Where access was granted, the means of access was documented.
Storage. All acquired material is held in a single centralised repository, ensuring that research access is permanent and that no duplication of acquisition effort is necessary.
Preparation. Every record has been transcribed to render it fully searchable and taggable. Images have been assigned metadata recording provenance, licensing terms, and resolution specifications for publication purposes.
Publication. The publicly available inventory represents all records for which the requisite permissions have been obtained.
In order to ensure consistency and intellectual coherence across the archive, all prospective additions are evaluated against the following criteria, which are applied collectively and in sequence. A record should satisfy the majority of these criteria before inclusion is considered.
Relevance. The record must have a demonstrable and direct connection to the Six Shires (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire) as the location of practice, the origin of practitioners, or the primary institutional context. Records concerning Westcountry practitioners competing elsewhere (in London, the United States, or South Africa, for example) are eligible where the practitioner’s regional identity is explicitly identified in the source. Records documenting the export of Westcountry martial arts beyond Britain are admissible and desirable, consistent with existing holdings relating to California, Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. The record must concern one or more of the three disciplines in scope: Westcountry wrestling (Devonshire or Cornish style), cudgelling or single-stick as practised in the region, or pugilism and boxing with a demonstrable Westcountry connection. Records documenting the co-occurrence of two or more disciplines are particularly valuable and should be prioritised.
Integrity. The source must be primary or a reliable early secondary record. For newspaper sources, this means a contemporaneous report; for books, a first or early edition, or a verified transcription thereof. Secondary scholarship is admissible where it contains primary-source quotations not otherwise independently accessible, provided these are clearly identified as such.
Balanced representation. The curatorial target is approximate parity — not of record count, which will inevitably reflect the uneven survival of evidence — but of intellectual representation across the three core disciplines. Where any discipline is underrepresented relative to this target, acquisitions in that discipline should be prioritised accordingly.
Material culture. Physical objects — trophies, belts, equipment, and architectural features — are admissible where they carry inscriptions or documentary provenance that independently attest to the practice of a discipline in the region.
Verifiability. The source must be identifiable with sufficient bibliographic precision to be cited in APA format and, where possible, to be independently verified by a reader consulting the original. Oral tradition, undocumented folklore, and secondary paraphrases without citation do not meet this standard. Where a source is available online, a direct URL must be provided.
