The Celtic Bards
The precise nature of the bard in
Celtic Europe is difficult to ascertain, partly due to the diverse nature of Celtic society. The
bardic traditions of
Ireland differed greatly at times from those of
Wales, which again differed from the traditions of the
European mainland. It also doesn’t help that as keepers of an
oral tradition, most of the bards’
history went unrecorded.
In the eyes of the
Gauls, the bards were a branch of a
threefold order of the learned, along with the
druids, and the
vates. The former were the
priests and
scholars of the
Gauls, while the latter were held to have the power of prophecy. The primary responsibility of the Gaulish bard was the composition of
poems to
praise their
patrons and the
heroes of the people. Not everything they composed was pleasant, however - the
satire of the bard was much feared in Celtic culture.
The bards of
Ireland may have originally held the same role and powers of those of the Gauls, but in time they were replaced as praise-poets by the
filidh, the
Irish counterparts to the Gaulish
vates. The term
bard came to refer more to mere
entertainers -
storytellers and minor
poets, with the title of
Ollave, or master
poet reserved for those who had completed formal training. It should be noted, however, that even the lower status Irish bards were often on a level with the bards of other cultures in terms of
knowledge.
In
Wales, the
fate of the bards, (
bardds) went another way. Their status as
learned poets increased over time, and they served as praise-poets and
lorekeepers until the rise of
Christianity in the region, at which point most were reduced to mere
court poets, with most of their
creative freedoms severely limited.
The Powers of the Bards
The
praise of the bard was considered to be more than just good
P.R. for their patrons - it was believed that their
words held power to not only highlight the patron’s finer qualities, but to strengthen them and bring new qualities into existence. In the
thirteenth century, the
Welsh poet
Phylip Brydydd was quoted as telling his patron “I made fame for thee.”
If the praise poems of the bards were believed to have
beneficial effects that went beyond the
reputation of the patron, their
satires were feared for much the same reason. The satires of the bards were held to cause not only
bad luck to their subject, but also
physical harm, illness, or even death.
Historically speaking, this belief in the ability of the bards to help or hinder with their words led to a
freedom of speech unheard of in most other cultures of the time, or any time. The satires of a
rival’s bard could be countered by the praise of one’s own, but any
noble who attempted to place restrictions on the bards would quickly find himself the
target of an entire class of
well spoken satirists. Even if one didn’t
believe in the
magical effects of such things, the effect this
onslaught of
scorn would have on the noble’s reputation could not be easily ignored. The idea of bardic
freedom lasted long after belief in the bard’s
supernatural powers faded. Even after the bards of
Ireland were reduced in
status to entertainers, their freedom remained. This is most evident in the poem
Fúbún Fúibh, a sixteenth century
invective against the
ruling class of Ireland, by a bard that was furious at their decision to acknowledge
English dominance.
Offshoots of the Bardic Tradition
Throughout the various cultures and bardic traditions many offshoots of the bard arose, each with their own unique place in their
society. This includes the aforementioned
Filidh and
Ollave of the
Irish, but can also include the
Brehons, the
Geilte, and the
Pencerdd, among others.
The
Brehon, or
Breitheamhain, were
legislative bards of Ireland. Part of their bardic training was to memorize the
laws of the region, which they recited as needed in a
monotonous chant. The Brehon lasted to the end of the seventeenth century, their teachings adapted to suit the
English after the coming of
Saint Patrick. The book of
Brehon Law records its own origins: :--"And when the men of
Erin heard--all the power of Patrick since his arrival in Erin--they bowed themselves down in obedience to the will of God and Patrick. It was then that all the professors of the
sciences (
Druids) in Erin were assembled, and each of them exhibited his
art before Patrick, in the presence of every
chief in Erin.--What did not clash with the
Word of God in the written law, and in the
New Testament, and with the
consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the Brehons by Patrick, and by the
ecclesiastics and the
chieftains of Erin."
The
Geilte were a peculiarity in terms of the poets of
Ireland. It was not unknown for
warriors to be overwhelmed by what they experienced in
battle, driven mad by the things they witnessed. Those former warriors who retreated to the
wild places and lived as
hermits were known as Geilte. These
warrior poets, while rarely seen due to their
reclusive nature, are distinct enough to be separated from the other types of bard.
The
Pencerdd were offshoots of the bardic traditions in the
Christian courts of
medieval Wales. Where their
predecessors were linked closely to
Druidic worship, the Pencerdd were equally tied to the
Christian faith. For every
song they sang in praise of their
King, they sang another in praise of
God.