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HISTORY OF THE BRITISH BARDS.

By the Late IOLO MORGANWG, B.B.D.

(Continued from p. 29.)

SCHOOL OF GRUFFUDD AP CYNAN; alias OF GLYNN ACHLACH. At the commencement of the twelfth century the state of poetry and the bardic literature in general appears to have been at a very low ebb. We have hardly a bard that can be ascertained to have lived in that age. Whatever the rude poetry of that age might have been, it was not such as made a lasting impression on the public mind; it was not such as was thought worthy of being preserved.

Soon after, however, or towards the close of this century, and more obviously in the beginning of the next, an extraordinary revival took place; this was chiefly in North Wales. In Anglesey appeared one of our noblest poets of any age whatever, Meilir Brydydd, about 1120, and soon after him, or about 1150, Gwalchmai, his son, cotemporary with whom were in North Wales, Cynddelw, a bard of the princely house of Powys, a great number of whose poems are still extant, Daniel ap Llosgwrn Mew, Gwilym Rhyfel, Llywarch ap Llywelyn Seisyllt, and the two princes, Howel ap Owain Gwynedd, and Owain Cyfeiliog, appeared all about the same time in North Wales and Powys; and in South Wales, only Gwynfardd Brycheniog, at least no other that can be considered as of this school, which I will call the school of Gruffudd ap Cynan, or the school of North Wales, for reasons which I imagine will appear sufficient.

Some bards, indeed, appeared about the same period in South Wales, but we must class them as of the school of Taliesin, or rather perhaps of the primitive school. Such were Gwrgon ap Rhys, of whom we have a few short pieces; Caradoc of Llancarvan, who distinguished himself more as an historian than as a poet; Rhys Goch ap Rhys ap Rhicert o Dir Iarll, with others; of these an account will be found in a more proper place.

The rising of an unclouded sun at the deep noon of the darkest winter's night is the only simile that can be used in speaking of the wonderful revival of poetry (I say poetry rather than bardism) that blazed out as it were instantaneously in North Wales at this time, and so conspicuously at this time, that it can not be referred to any earlier period, nor has it the least appearance of having been the effect of any kind of gradationary improvement; it is not greatly short of a miracle. Still it started up out of deep obscurity. We find ourselves entangled in very considerable difficulties in endeavouring to trace it up to its origin; to the time and place of its commencement we have some clues, but they are in some places perplexingly tangled, and to untangle them requires a careful hand.

We have a little code of laws for the regulation of bards and musicians ascribed to Gruffudd ap Cynan, Prince of North Wales, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys, and (as some copies say) Rhys ap Tewdwr, Prince of South Wales, but the name of the prince is not found in the greatest number of copies; we shall in time see whether there may or may not be sufficient reasons for admitting or rejecting him. The title of this little code is in general, "The Statute of Gruffudd ap Cynan," the preamble to which runs nearly in these words :

"This is the statute of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Prince of North Wales, and of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys, respecting the men of vocal song."

Thus it begins in by far the greater number of copies; then follow the regulations or laws, the purport of which is to enforce good order, moral conduct, and decent behaviour, under pretty severe restrictions, after which ensues the following

"After Gruffudd ap Cynan, these laws and privileges were confirmed, or ratified, by Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys." "And in like manner, Prince Rhys ab Tewdwr, of South

1 I find no mention of the Statute of Gruffudd ap Cynan before the time of Gruffudd Hiraethog.

Wales, enacted similar laws (or the same laws) after he had built his new Castle in Cardigan, inviting all who might wish to profit by the science of song in England, Ireland, and Scotland, to resort to the New Tower in Cardigan, notice of year and a day having been given thereof."

Thus, or nearly so, it is expressed in the greatest number by far of old copies that I have yet seen, and I have by me correct transcripts of more than twenty copies of considerable antiquity, some not less than 300 years old, and none of later date than the time of Elizabeth.

The historian who attends to what has thus been said in the statute, as it is usually termed, will immediately perceive that it cannot possibly be true that Gruffudd ap Cynan, as a Prince of Wales, could have ever made any such laws for Bleddyn ap Cynfyn to confirm or re-enact after him, for Bleddyn ap Cynfyn died in 1072, and Gruffudd ap Cynan came not into possession of the Principality of North Wales until the year 1080, and he died in 1136.

Rhys ap Tewdwr recovered South Wales in 1077. He might have made such laws, but not before Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, who was dead before he began to rule five years. It is true that he built the castle or tower of Cardigan first, and might have invited bards and musicians there, and have enacted laws for their regulation, but it must have been before Gruffudd ap Cynan.

Caradoc of Llancarvan, our historian, was cotemporary with Gruffudd ap Cynan, and himself a bard, but he makes no mention of any such laws by either Gruffudd ap Cynan, Rhys ap Tewdwr, or Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, but he relates something like this of other princes, successors of Bleddyn, and of Rhys ap Tewdwr.

The castle of Cardigan was in the possession of Cadwgan, the son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, in 1107. He in that year proclaimed a grand feast to be held at this castle, to which he invited the princes and nobles of all Wales, and also the bards and musicians, or, as the historian expresses it, "the men of vocal and instrumental

song, were invited, for whom he prepared chairs, and instituted contests of skill between them, according to the usages of the court of Arthur, and also instituted laws (or regulations) and privileges to them, with honourable rewards or perquisites, and then he dismissed with honour and rich presents every one to the place whence he came."

Gruffudd ap Cynan, at the time of this splendid feast or assembly, was living, and governed North Wales. Whether he was amongst other princes and nobles at this meeting, which appears to have been partly legislative, is not particularly mentioned, but it is probable that he was; and it should seem that whatever laws and institutes were enacted for the regulation of men of vocal song and men of instrumental music (for it is thus they are termed in the statute) at this assembly, they were done by the general consent or united powers of all the princes and nobles of Wales, each of whom returning to his own dominions there enforced them; hence in North Wales they would with strict propriety be called the laws of Gruffudd ab Cynan; in other sovereignties they might with equal propriety have been termed the laws of their several princes, and if the sovereign houses bore the names of their founders, which they seem to have done, for which opinion reasons will in a proper place appear, then in North Wales they would bear the title of laws or statutes of Gruffudd ap Cynan; in Powys, of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn; in the province of Dynevor, of Rhys ap Tewdwr; for these princes were the actual founders of these three sovereign houses, or perhaps more properly the refounders of them, for their dominions in all parts of Wales had been for several successions in the possession of such as they might have justly termed usurpers.

In the year 1135, Gruffudd ap Rhys ap Tewdwr (as Caradoc says) having recovered his principality of South Wales, prepared a princely feast in Ystrad Tywi, to which he invited all the Princes of Wales and of the Marches. To this feast it is said Gruffudd ap Cynan and his sons came, and a great number of the nobles of every part of Wales. This grand feast was held for forty days. To

this feast were invited poets and musicians. Contests of wisdom and skill were instituted, amusements of representation, (probably dramatic,) and all the manly games, after which these were all dismissed to their homes with honourable gifts or presents to such of the bards, wise men, and musicians, as were deemed worthy of rewards, and also to all who excelled in the manly accomplishments. When this feast was over, Gruffudd ap Rhys set himself about revising the laws of his country; for this purpose he summoned (or called, as the historian expresses it) to him all the wise men and scholars of his dominions, and, entering into counsel with them, he enacted laws and regulations for his dominions, instituting courts of justice in every cantred, with subordinate courts in every commot. Gruffudd ap Cynan did the same in North Wales. This (says Caradoc) gave offence to the Normans and Saxons, who dreaded the establishment of good order amongst the Welsh, and they brought complaints against the two princes to King Stephen, to which, not knowing what was best to be done, he returned no answer.

These I believe are the only legislative proceedings of this period that our historians mention, and it was most probably in one or the other of them that the bardic regulations under present consideration were enacted. There were most certainly some ordinances of that nature made at the grand feast of Cadwgan, at Cardigan Castle, for they are expressly mentioned, and in the legislative assembly of Ystrad Tywi under Gruffudd ap Rhys, as well as in the immediately subsequent one in North Wales under Gruffudd ap Cynan. The whole body of the laws appear to have been revised, and such new ones as were deemed necessary enacted; and, doubtless, amongst other things the laws of the bards were brought, under consideration.

Another view may be taken of this clouded object of history, if it might be deemed necessary to vindicate in a strictly literal sense what the preamble of the statute positively declares, that they are the laws of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, and Rhys ap Tewdwr con