Criticism
The poem is evidently meant to be humorous, as the weapons are totally unsuited to war; the combatants fight with farm tools on old horses more given to passing wind than battle. The martial seriousness of the men's vows is immediately undermined by comic touches such as the banners made from old hides and a trumpet made of wood, fighting for a dowry of an old horse and a spotted pig. The poem does not explain why some of the warriors are fighting for Tyb's hand in marriage when they currently have wives (who arrive to drag home their injured men in wheelbarrows).
Critics do not agree on the subject of or audience for the parody. The poem may be satirizing knightly conventions such as the jousting tournament, or it may be mocking the country bumpkins who try to imitate these courtly rituals. Or, as with Chaucer's Reeve's Tale, the poet may be making fun of speakers of northern English, who were often stereotyped by southerners as backward.
Read more about this topic: Tournament Of Tottenham
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