Bard

2022-01-13T18:51:30Z

74.123.241.1:

{{Short description|Poet in medieval Gaelic and British culture}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Bards|the spectroscopy technique BARDS|Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Celtic mythology}}
[[File:The Bard.jpg|thumb|''The Bard'' ({{circa|1817}}), by [[John Martin (painter)|John Martin]]]]
In Celtic cultures, a '''bard''' is a professional [[Storytelling|story teller]], verse-maker, music composer, [[Oral history|oral historian]] and [[genealogy|genealogist]], employed by a patron (such as a monarch or noble) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.

With the decline of a living [[bardic tradition]] in the modern period, the term has loosened to mean a generic [[minstrel]] or author (especially a famous one). For example, [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] are respectively known as "the Bard of Avon" (often simply "the Bard") and "the Bard of Bengal".<ref name="Oxford Dictionary of English">[[Oxford Dictionary of English]], s.v. ''bard'', n.1.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Work of Rabindranath Tagore celebrated in London |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33543786|website=BBC News|access-date=15 July 2015|language=en-GB}}</ref> In 16th-century Scotland, it turned into a derogatory term for an [[wikt:itinerant|itinerant]] musician; nonetheless it was later romanticised by Sir [[Walter Scott]] (1771–1832).<ref name="Oxford Dictionary of English" />

==Etymology==
{{Contains special characters|PIE|section}}

[[File:Beowulf - Beardna.jpg|thumb|left|230px|'Beardna,' a loanword of Celtic origin]]
The English term ''bard'' is a [[loan word]] from the [[Celtic languages]]: [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]]: ''bardo-'' ('bard, poet'), {{lang-mga|bard}} and {{Lang-gd|bàrd}} ('bard, poet'), {{lang-wlm|bardd}} ('singer, poet'), [[Middle Breton]] ''barz'' ('minstrel'), [[Cornish language|Old Cornish]]: {{lang|owl|barth}}  ('jester').{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=67}}{{sfn|Matasović|2009|p=56}} The ancient Gaulish *''bardos'' is attested as {{lang|la|bardus}} ([[Grammatical number|sing.]]) in Latin and as {{transl|grc|bárdoi}} ([[Plural|plur.]]) in Ancient Greek, and, as a [[Word stem|stem]], in ''bardo-cucullus'' ('bard-hood'), ''bardo-magus'' ('field of the bard'), ''barditus'' (a song to fire soldiers), or in ''bardala'' ('[[crested lark]]', a singing bird).{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=67}}

All of these terms come from the [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] noun {{wikt-lang|cel-x-proto|*bardos}} ('poet-singer, minstrel'), itself derived, with regular Celtic [[sound shift]] {{lang|ine-x-proto|*gʷ}} > {{lang|cel-x-proto|*b}}, from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʷerH-|{{PIE|*gʷrH-dʰh₁-o-s}}]]'', which literally means 'praise-maker'.{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=67}}{{sfn|West|2007|p=27}}{{sfn|Matasović|2009|p=56}} It is [[cognate]] with [[Sanskrit]]: {{transl|sa|gṛṇā́ti}} ('calls, praise'), {{lang-la|grātus}} ('grateful, pleasant, delightful'), {{lang-lt|gìrti}} ('praise'), or [[Armenian language|Armenian]]: {{transl|hy|kardam}} ('raise voice').{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=67}}{{sfn|Matasović|2009|p=56}}

==History==
In the words of the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], the bards were an "ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets, whose primary function appears to have been to compose and sing (usually to the harp) verses celebrating the achievements of chiefs and warriors, and who committed to verse historical and traditional facts, religious precepts, laws, genealogies, etc."<ref name="Oxford Dictionary of English" />

In medieval [[Gaels|Gaelic]] and [[Wales|Welsh]] society, a ''bard'' ([[Scottish Gaelic|Scottish]] and Irish Gaelic) or ''bardd'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]) was a professional poet, employed to compose [[Elegy|elegies]] for his [[lord]]. If the employer failed to pay the proper amount, the bard would then compose a satire (c.f. ''[[fili]]'', ''[[fáith]]''). In other Indo-European societies, the same function was fulfilled by [[skald]]s, [[rhapsode]]s, [[minstrel]]s and ''[[scop]]s'', among others. A hereditary caste of professional poets in [[Proto-Indo-European society]] has been reconstructed by comparison of the position of poets in medieval Ireland and in ancient India in particular.{{Sfn|West|2007|p=30}}

Bards (who are not the same as the Irish {{lang|ga|filidh}} or {{lang|ga|fili}}) were those who sang the songs recalling the tribal warriors' deeds of bravery as well as the genealogies and family histories of the ruling strata among [[Celt]]ic societies. The pre-Christian Celtic peoples recorded no written histories; however, Celtic peoples did maintain an intricate oral history committed to memory and transmitted by bards and filid. Bards facilitated the memorization of such materials by the use of [[Metre (poetry)|metre]], [[Rhyme#Function of rhyme|rhyme]] and other formulaic poetic devices.{{Cn|date=November 2021}}

==Regions==

===India===
{{main|Bhats}}
In India, the bards are generically known as ''Bhats''. Jeffrey G. Snodgrass (professor of anthropology at the [[Colorado State University]]<ref>{{cite web |website=Colorado State University |title=Dr. Snodgrass editor of new blog series: Bioculturalism |date=August 3, 2015 |first=Katie |last=Horton |url=https://anthgr.colostate.edu/2015/08/snodgrass-bioculturalism/ |access-date=October 28, 2020}}</ref>) states that "'Bhat' is a generic term for 'bard', applied to a range of [[mythographers]] including those employed by village nobles."<ref name="JGS">{{cite journal |journal=Culture and Religion |volume=5 |issue=1 |year=2004 |pages=71–104 |title=Hail to the Chief?: The Politics and Poetics of a Rajasthani 'Child Sacrifice' |first=Jeffrey G. |last=Snodgrass |doi=10.1080/0143830042000200364 |issn=1475-5629 |oclc=54683133 |quote='Bhat' is a generic term for 'bard', applied to a range of mythographers including those employed by village nobles.}}</ref>

===Ireland===
{{expand section|date=April 2014}}
{{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=www.pbm.com|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref><ref name="Breatnach">Breatnach, Liam. ''[[Uraicecht na Ríar]]'', ca. p. 98</ref>  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=Empire|first=Irish|website=irishempire.org|language=en|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.

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|language=en-US}}</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]] (Peoples 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]].

===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''' ({{lang-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 |language=en}}</ref>

===Wales===
{{Further|Dryw|Book of Taliesin}}
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 booty, included the singing of the sovereignty of Britain—possibly why the genealogies of the British high kings survived into the written historical record.

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]]. The tradition of regularly assembling bards at an [[eisteddfod]] never lapsed, and was strengthened by formation of the [[Gorsedd]] by [[Iolo Morganwg]] in 1792, establishing Wales as the major Celtic upholder of bardic tradition in the 21st century. Many regular ''eisteddfodau'' are held in Wales, including the [[National Eisteddfod of Wales]] ({{Lang|cy|Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru}}), which was instituted in 1861 and has been held annually since 1880. Many Welsh schools conduct their own annual versions at which bardic traditions are emulated.<ref>e.g., [http://stjulians.realsmartcloud.com/our-eisteddfod/ Our Eisteddfod] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110001934/http://stjulians.realsmartcloud.com/our-eisteddfod/ |date=10 November 2013 }} at St Julian's School, Newport, 19 March 2013. Accessed 20 June 2013</ref>

==Literature==
{{Further|Aois-dàna}}
[[File:Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy Y, 1825, object 54, The Voice of the Ancient Bard (Metropolitan Museum of Art).jpg|thumb|upright|William Blake's hand painted engraving of his poem "[[The Voice of the Ancient Bard]]" in the ''[[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]'']]

From its frequent use in Romanticism, 'The Bard' became attached as a title to various poets,
* 'The Bard of Armagh' is [[Martin Hearty]]
* 'The Bard of Avon,' 'The Immortal Bard' or (in England) simply 'The Bard' is [[William Shakespeare]]
* 'The Bard of Ayrshire' (or in Scotland, simply 'The Bard') is [[Robert Burns]]
* 'The Bard of Bengal' is [[Rabindranath Tagore]]
* 'The Bard of Olney' is [[William Cowper]]
* 'The Bard of Rydal Mount' is [[William Wordsworth]]
* 'The Bard of Salford' is [[John Cooper Clarke]]
* 'The Bard of Twickenham' is [[Alexander Pope]]
* Australian [[bush poet]]s such as [[Henry Lawson]] and [[Banjo Paterson]] are referred to as 'bush bards'
* [[Bob Dylan]], [[Jim MacCool]] and the band [[Blind Guardian]] have also been termed 'bards'

==Popular culture==
From its Romanticist usage, the notion of the bard as a minstrel with qualities of a priest, magician or seer also entered the [[fantasy]] genre in the 1960s to 1980s, for example as the '[[Bard (Dungeons & Dragons)|Bard]]' class in [[Dungeons & Dragons]], 'Bard' class in Pathfinder RPG—Paizo, ''Bard'' by [[Keith Taylor (author)|Keith Taylor]] (1981), ''[[Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish]]'' by [[Morgan Llywelyn]] (1984), and in video games in fantasy settings such as ''[[The Bard's Tale (1985 video game)|The Bard's Tale]]'' (1985).

As of 2020, an online trend to cover modern songs using medieval style musical instruments and composition, including rewriting the lyrics in a medieval style, is known as [[bardcore]].

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Aois-dàna]]
* [[Bard (Dungeons & Dragons)]]
* [[Bard (League of Legends)]]
* [[Bard (Soviet Union)]]
* [[Cacofonix]]
* [[Charan]] (India)
* [[Contention of the bards]]
* [[Druid]]
* [[Fili]]
* [[Gorsedd]]
* [[Gorseth Kernow]] (Cornwall)
* [[Griot]]
* [[Poet as legislator]]
* [[Skald]]
* ''[[The Bards of Wales]]''
* [[The Bard's Tale (1985 video game)]]
* [[Vates]]
* [[Welsh bardic music]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}
*{{Cite book|last=Matasović|first=Ranko|title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic|year=2009|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004173361|author-link=Ranko Matasović}}
*{{Cite book|last=West|first=Martin L.|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9|author-link=Martin Litchfield West}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* [[Joseph Cooper Walker|Walker, Joseph C.]], ''Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards''. New York: Garland, 1971.

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/bardic.html Irish Bardic Poetry] Corpus of Electronic Texts, University College Cork.
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Bard}}

{{Gallic peoples}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Occupations in music]]
[[Category:Celtic culture]]
[[Category:History of Wales]]
[[Category:Irish literature]]
[[Category:Scottish literature]]
[[Category:Welsh literature]]
[[Category:Welsh folk music]]
[[Category:Welsh poets|Welsh poets]]
[[Category:Medieval Ireland]]
[[Category:Culture of medieval Scotland]]
[[Category:Cornish culture]]
[[Category:Romanticism]]
[[Category:Eisteddfod]]
[[Category:Medieval performers]]
[[Category:Poets]]

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