From ‘Song to Aella, lord of the castel of brygstowe…’
Barrett published this poem in his History of the Antiquities of the City of Bristol (1789) which relied on Chatterton's forgeries. 'Ella', Barrett writes there, was Lord of Bristol Castle in 920 and 'gained many signal victories against the Danes with his Bristowans, particularly at Watchet'. Watchet, on the Somerset coast, close to the Quantock Hills was an important Anglo-Saxon port and was raided by Danish forces in 944. These are recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle but Ella (or Aella) is not mentioned.
Brystowannes, menne of myghte, Ydar'd the bloudie fyghte, And actedd deeds full quent.
Oh thou, whereer (thie bones att reste) Thye Spryte to haunte delyghteth beste, Whetherr upponne the bloude-embrewedd pleyne, Orr whare thou kennst fromm farre The dysmall crye of warre, Orr seest somme mountayne made of corse of sleyne; Orr seest the hatchedd stede, Ypraunceynge o'er the mede, And neighe to be amenged the poynctedd speeres; Orr ynne blacke armoure staulke arounde Embattel'd Brystowe, once thie ground; And glowe ardurous onn the Castle steeres; Orr fierye round the mynsterr glare;
Lette Brystowe stylle be made thie care; Guarde ytt fromme foemenne & consumynge fyre; Lyche Avones streme ensyrke ytte rounde, Ne lette a flame enharme the grounde, Yylle ynne one flame all the whole worlde expyre.
Bristol Castle was a nationally important stronghold after the Norman Conquest. By the fifteenth century, it was falling into decay. During the English Civil War, Cromwell commanded that it should be demolished and the site was built over soon after, becoming the heart of the city. German bombing during the Blitz destroyed much of this part of the city's medieval centre.
AElla was the protagonist of Chatterton's most ambitious work, AElla: A Tragycal Enterlude, or Discoorseynge Tragedie. It contains several songs but not this one.
Coleridge wrote 'The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere' after visiting Watchet.