eisteddfod
eisteddfod, meaning a session or congress, was a competition of Welsh bards and minstrels under the patronage of the aristocracy. The institution was of great antiquity since the laws of Hywel Dda (d. 950) describe in some detail arrangements for chairing the bard, the climax of the activities. Gruffydd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd, is said to have held an eisteddfod at Caerwys about 1100 and Rhys ap Gruffydd, king of Deheubarth, at Cardigan in 1176. Another important gathering was at Carmarthen c.1450, presided over by Gruffydd ap Nicholas, which laid down the rules of poetic metre. A rather strange commission by Elizabeth in 1568 suggested that the principality was crawling with bards and minstrels and authorized an eisteddfod at Caerwys to restore order—competent bards were to be recognized by experts, ‘the rest not worthy to return to some honest labour’. The institution declined in the 17th cent. but in the 18th cent. there was a marked increase of interest in Welsh language and culture, with the Society of Cymmrodorion set up in 1751 and the Gwynnedigion Society in 1771. Revivals of local eisteddfodau soon followed, with meetings at Corwen and Bala in 1789. ‘The first of the great modern eisteddfodau’ was held at Carmarthen in 1819. The National Eisteddfod Association was formed in 1880 and holds an annual gathering, alternating between north and south Wales. There are also provincial and local eisteddfodau.
J. A. Cannon
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eisteddfod