Editing Bard (section)

==Regions==

===Ireland===
{{See also|Bardic poetry}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/onbards.html|title=On Bards, And Bardic Circles|website=pbm.com|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref><ref name="Breatnach">Breatnach, Liam. ''[[Uraicecht na Ríar]]'', ca. p. 98</ref> <!-- this should have some publication data or a URḶ if at all possible --> By the Early Modern Period, these names came to be used interchangeably.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bergin|first1=Osborn|title=Irish Bardic Poetry|publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|location=Dublin|pages=3–5|url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/bardic.html|access-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

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 verse|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 [[chronicle]]rs and [[Satire|satirists]] whose job it was to praise their employers and damn those who crossed them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://irishempire.org/news/travel-roots/druids-filid-bards-custodians-of-celtic-tradition/25|title=Druids, Filid & Bards: Custodians of Celtic Tradition|last=Butler|first=Craig|website=Irish Empire|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref> It was believed that a well-aimed bardic satire, {{lang|ga|glam dicenn}}, could raise boils on the face of its target.

[[{{Not a typo|File:Beowulf - Beardna.jpg}}<!-- Do not change the spelling of the file! -->|thumb|left|230px|'Beardna', a loanword of Celtic origin]]The 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 conquest of Ireland|Tudor Reconquest]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.historyireland.com/early-modern-history-1500-1700/divided-gaels-gaelic-cultural-identities-in-scotland-and-ireland-c-1200-c-1650/|title=Divided Gaels: Gaelic cultural identities in Scotland and Ireland c. 1200–c. 1650|date=2013-02-22|work=History Ireland|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref>

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 [[Lebor Gabála Érenn|Book of Invasions]], in a story about the Irish colony of [[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 Belgic monarch, the people of the colony of Tuatha Dé Danann, as the Irish called it, 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 (Irish)|Milesians]].{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

===Scotland===
{{Further|MacMhuirich bardic family}}
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.<ref name="Clancy-453"/> With the fall of the Lordship of the Isles in the 15th century, the family was chiefly employed by the [[Scottish clan chief|chiefs]] of the [[Clan Macdonald of Clanranald|MacDonalds of Clanranald]]. Members of the family were also recorded as musicians in the early 16th century, and as clergymen possibly as early as the early 15th century.<ref name="Thomson-61">{{citation |author=Thomson, Derick S. |author-link=Derick Thomson |title=Gaelic Learned Orders and Literati in Medieval Scotland |journal=Scottish Studies |publisher=The Journal of the School of Scottish Studies University of Edinburgh |year=1968 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=65}}</ref> The last of the family to practise classical Gaelic poetry was Domhnall MacMhuirich, who lived on [[South Uist]] in the 18th century.<ref name="Clancy-453">{{citation |last=Clancy |first=Thomas Owen |author-link=Thomas Owen Clancy |contribution=Clann MacMhuirich |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |editor1-last=Koch |editor1-first=John T. |editor1-link=John T. Koch |year=2006 |location=[[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]] |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=1-85109-445-8 |page=453 }}</ref>

{{anchor|village bard}}In [[Gàidhealtachd|Gaelic-speaking areas]], a '''village bard''' or '''village poet''' ({{langx|gd|bàrd-baile}}) is a local poet who composes works in a traditional style relating to that community. Notable village bards include [[Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna]] and {{ill|Dòmhnall Ruadh Phàislig|gd}}.<ref>{{cite book |title=Celtic Culture: A-Celti |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851094400 |pages=173–74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=bard-baile&pg=PA173}}</ref>

===Wales===
{{Further|Medieval Welsh literature}}
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 Wales|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 [[Looting|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]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Schama |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Schama |title=A History of Britain 1: 3000 BC-AD 1603 At the Edge of the World? |title-link=A History of Britain (TV series)#DVDs and books |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-563-48714-2 |edition=Paperback 2003 |location=London |pages=170}}</ref>

The royal form of bardic tradition ceased in the 13th century, when the 1282 [[Conquest of Wales by Edward I|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 [[Kingdom of Hungary|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 twentieth century is a leading Celtic upholder of the bardic tradition. The annual [[National Eisteddfod of Wales]] ({{Lang|cy|Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru}}) (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.<ref>An example is the ''eisteddfod'' that was held at St Julian's School, Newport on 19 March 2013. See

{{Cite web |url=http://stjulians.realsmartcloud.com/our-eisteddfod/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=20 June 2013 |archive-date=10 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110001934/http://stjulians.realsmartcloud.com/our-eisteddfod/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}. Accessed 20 June 2013</ref>

Several published research studies into the Welsh bardic tradition have been published. They include Williams (1850),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=John |title=Druid stones |journal=Archæologia Cambrensis |date=1850 |volume=New Series 1 |issue=1 |pages=1–9}}</ref> Parry-Williams (1947),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parry-Williams |first1=T.H. |title=The Bardic Tradition |journal=The Welsh Review |date=1947 |volume=iv |issue=4}}</ref> Morgan (1983)<ref>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Prys |editor1-last=Hobsbawm |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Ranger |editor2-first=Terence |title=The invention of tradition |date=1983 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |chapter=From a death to a view::The hunt for the Welsh past in the Romantic period}}</ref> and Jones (1986).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Bedwyr L |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Ellis D. |editor2-last=Griffith |editor2-first=John G. |title=Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Celtic Studies |date=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |chapter=The Welsh Bardic Tradition}}</ref> Doubtless research studies have also been published in the current century.