Ireland In medieval Ireland, bards were one of two distinct groups of poets, the other being the
fili. According to the
Early Irish law text on status,
Uraicecht Becc, bards were a lesser class of poets, not eligible for higher poetic roles as described above. However, it has also been argued that the distinction between
filid (pl. of
fili) and bards was a creation of Christian Ireland, and that the
filid were more associated with the church. By the Early Modern Period, these names came to be used interchangeably. Irish bards formed a professional hereditary
caste of highly trained, learned poets. The bards were steeped in the history and traditions of
clan and country, as well as in the technical requirements of a verse technique that was
syllabic and used
assonance,
half rhyme and
alliteration, among other conventions. As officials of the court of king or chieftain, they performed a number of official roles. They were
chroniclers and
satirists whose job it was to praise their employers and damn those who crossed them. It was believed that a well-aimed bardic satire, , could raise boils on the face of its target. |thumb|left|230px|'Beardna', a loanword of Celtic originThe bardic system lasted until the mid-17th century in Ireland and the early 18th century in Scotland. In Ireland, their fortunes had always been linked to the Gaelic aristocracy, which declined along with them during the
Tudor Reconquest. The early history of the bards can be known only indirectly through mythological stories. The first mention of the bardic profession in Ireland is found in the
Book of Invasions, in a story about the
Tuatha Dé Danann (Tribe of Goddess Danu), also called Danonians. They became the
aos sí (folk of the mound), comparable to Norse
alfr and British
fairy. During the tenth year of the reign of the last monarch of the
Fir Bolg, the
Tuatha Dé Danann invaded and settled in Ireland. They were divided into three tribes — the tribe of Tuatha who were the nobility, the tribe of De who were the priests (those devoted to serving God or De) and the tribe of Danann, who were the bards. This account of the Tuatha Dé Danann must be considered legendary; however the story was an integral part of the oral history of Irish bards themselves. One of the most notable bards in Irish mythology was
Amergin Glúingel, a bard, druid and judge for the
Milesians.
Scotland The best-known group of bards in Scotland were the members of the MacMhuirich family, who flourished from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The family was centred in the
Hebrides, and claimed descent from a 13th-century Irish bard who, according to legend, was exiled to Scotland. The family was at first chiefly employed by the
Lords of the Isles as poets, lawyers, and physicians. The last of the family to practise classical Gaelic poetry was Domhnall MacMhuirich, who lived on
South Uist in the 18th century. In
Gaelic-speaking areas, a
village bard or
village poet () is a local poet who composes works in a traditional style relating to that community. Notable village bards include
Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna and .
Wales A number of bards in
Welsh mythology have been preserved in
medieval Welsh literature such as the
Red Book of Hergest, the
White Book of Rhydderch, the
Book of Aneirin and the
Book of Taliesin. The bards
Aneirin and
Taliesin may be legendary reflections of historical bards active in the 6th and 7th centuries. Very little historical information about
Dark Age Welsh court tradition survives, but the Middle Welsh material came to be the nucleus of the
Matter of Britain and
Arthurian legend as they developed from the 13th century. The (Welsh) Laws of Hywel Dda, originally compiled around 900, identify a bard as a member of a king's household. His duties, when the bodyguard were sharing out
booty, included the singing of the
sovereignty of Britain—possibly why the genealogies of the British high kings survived into the written historical record. A large number of Welsh bards were
blind people. The royal form of bardic tradition ceased in the 13th century, when the 1282
Edwardian conquest permanently ended the rule of the Welsh princes. The legendary suicide of
The Last Bard (c. 1283), was commemorated in the poem
The Bards of Wales by the
Hungarian poet
János Arany in 1857, as a way of encoded resistance to the suppressive politics of his own time. However, the poetic and musical traditions were continued throughout the Middle Ages, e.g., by noted 14th-century poets
Dafydd ap Gwilym and
Iolo Goch. Also the tradition of regularly assembling bards at an
eisteddfod never lapsed and was strengthened by formation of the
Gorsedd by
Iolo Morganwg in 1792. Wales in the twenty-first century is a leading Celtic upholder of the bardic tradition. The annual
National Eisteddfod of Wales () (which was first held in 1880) is held in which bards are chaired (see
:Category:Chaired bards) and crowned (see
:Category:Crowned bards). The
Urdd National Eisteddfod is also held annually. And many schools hold their own annual
eisteddfodau which emulate bardic traditions. Several published research studies into the Welsh bardic tradition have been published. They include Williams (1850), Parry-Williams (1947), Morgan (1983) and Jones (1986). Doubtless research studies have also been published in the current century. ==Literature==