June 17, 1909J 



NA TURE 



469 



concerning the Chair Contest " (third edition, S'7)- This 

 statement is repeated in the fourth edition, 1906. This 

 is the only reference to the Gorsedd in the whole of that 

 work. To cause the learned authors of that book to 

 become suddenly cautious on a matter of so great an 

 interest to Welsh people as the Bardic Gorsedd, and that 

 in the course of an allusion to the Eisteddfod, is a tine 

 tribute to the authority of Prof. J. Morris Jones, but to 

 " abstain from saying anything concerning the Gorsedd " 

 throughout a book dealing with purely Welsh history and 

 institutions, more than is contained in a footnote, is, it 

 seems to us, to force deference to the critic almost to 

 breaking point. 



Our object is not to minimise the value of these articles ; 

 their value as a contribution to the history of post- 

 Reformation MS.S. no one can deny or destroy. Our 

 desire is simply to direct attention to the fact that they 

 deal with the Gorsedd history from the six,teenth century 

 onwards, and that it is only in a qualified sense it can 

 be said that they are an examination of the antiquity of 

 the Gorsedd itself. They are being constantly referred to 

 as contesting the antiquity of the Gorsedd; what they 

 actually deal with is the modernity of the bards' connec- 

 tion with the Gorsedd. The antiquity of the Gorsedd 

 itself they do not touch but in so far as they teach us to 

 look beyond modern bardism for that antiquity. 



The only reason why the Gorseddites have not given 

 an ettective answer to these articles hitherto is that they 

 had no argument — they lacked an effective weapon. There 

 are gaps in the history of the Gorsedd which the historian 

 lias failed to bridge. The astro-archsologist, however, 

 has come to the rescue. \\\ effective weapon has at last 

 been forged, or, to change the metaphor, an antidote has 

 been discovered to neutralise the baneful effect of the dose 

 administered by Prof. J. Morris Jones to Gorsedd 

 enthusiasts. The Gorsedd has been invested with new 

 interest since Sir Norman Lockyer gave to the world the 

 theory upon which ancient stone circles were constructed. 

 It is only now, bearing that theory in mind, that the 

 proper value can be assigned to these articles, and also 

 to much other Welsh literature bearing upon the Gorsedd. 



The object of these articles was to show that the Gorsedd 

 of to-day was the creation of the bards of Glamorgan of 

 the sixteenth century. In the first article the reader is 

 asked to bear in mind the following statements. We give 

 lull quotations, because they indicate what the author has 

 set out to prove ; they also show that the author does 

 not particularise between the terms " Gorsedd " and 

 " Gorsedd Beirdd \'nys Prydain " (the Gorsedd of the 

 bards of the Isle of Britain). 



" (i) It was in Glamorganshire, ajter the middle of the 

 sixteenth century, that every one of the manuscripts which 

 mention the Gorsedd was written. 



" (2) In all manuscripts written before that time through- 

 out Wales, not a word is mentioned of such a thing as 

 the Gorsedd of the bards of the Isle of Britain. Mr. 

 Gwenogfryn Evans has examined hundreds of these older 

 manuscripts, and has failed to observe so much as the 

 name of the Gorsedd in one of them." 



The author finds evidence in the Gorseddic literature of 

 this period that the bards " poached " the laws of Howel 

 Dda for rules and regulations to be applied to the institu- 

 tion they were setting up ; and in his remarks on these 

 laws we see again the want of distinction between 

 "Gorsedd" and "Gorsedd of the Bards." He savs : — 

 " Not one of the three books of law, neither does one of 

 the thirty-one editors, mention anything of the Gorsedd of 

 the Bards. These books treat minutely of every aspect 

 of Welsh life in those ages, from the ceremonies of the 

 Princes' Courts to the marketable value of a wooden spade; 

 they relate much of bards, of the oflice and place of every 

 grade of bard and the gift that was due to him for his 

 song; and of the different Gorsedds : Gorsedd of assembly 

 (dygynmiU): Lord's Gorsedd; Bishop's Gorsedd: Abbot's 

 Gorsedd ; but though mention is made of bards and of 

 Gorsedds, Gorsedd of the Bards is not suggested." 



When the writer says that no mention is made of 

 " Gorsedd " in the whole range of Welsh literature, i>i- 

 cluding the Mahinogion and the "Laws," we infer th.it 

 he means to say that these ancient MSS. do not contain 



NO. 206S, VOL. 80] 



reference to " Gorsedd of the Bards " as such. Seeing 

 that the word " Gorsedd " does occur in the Mahinogion 

 and in the "Laws," we deplore the fact that the author 

 does not give a philological analysis of the word and let 

 us know what it meant before the bards appropriated it 

 as a name for their stone circle. It is quite evident, even 

 from the author's own words, that the modern bards did 

 not coin the name, but borrowed the name and the idea 

 from anticjuity. 



Space will not allow us to give an account of the 

 author's examination of the Gorseddic literature from the 

 fifteenth century onwards. It is not to our purpose, and 

 in the main his judgment concerning the value of these 

 MSS. will stand the test of time, and we accept them at 

 his valuation. They "increased," we are told, as a 

 result of a quarrel between bards at the Carmarthen 

 Eisteddfod of 145 1. The bards of Glamorgan from that 

 year sought to set up an institution in opposition to the 

 former assembly of the Welsh bards, and soon after began 

 to call it a Gorsedd. The first document cited by the 

 author containing reference to the new heresy is a collec- 

 tion of Triads by Rhisiart lorwerth, who flourished circa 

 1510. Then is passed under review a series of MSS., 

 beginning with the collection of lolo Morganwg (who 

 died in 182b; onward to the middle of the last century. 

 Of the claims made by the bards to the antiquity of the 

 traditions contained in these documents the author makes 

 ridicule as a story worthy only of repetition to the 

 " marines." 



When we admit, without reserve as we do, that the 

 author has in these articles given a masterly account of 

 the connection of modern bards with the modern Gorsedd, 

 we strike the sum total of the value of these articles as 

 a contribution to the history of the Gorsedd. He has led 

 us back to the beginning of the sixteenth century by 

 documentary evidence, and if his statement of the bardic 

 quarrel is correct, we arrive at the middle of the fifteenth ; 

 but he has done more. By playing the gamekeeper on 

 the bards of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries we must 

 follow him to their " poaching " ground, and find that 

 we have travelled backwards at least 600 years. 



As we have to thank the bards of modern times for 

 reviving and restoring the Gorsedd even when they 

 appropriate it for their own use, we have also to thank 

 Prof. J. Morris Jones for leading us to the source of their 

 inspiration as to its rules and regulations. This source, 

 or quarry, is the Laws of Howel Dda. The Gorsedd 

 rules, the author tells us, were taken mostly from the 

 sections of the Laws regulating the court of " landed 

 property." 



Most authorities agree that these Laws were compiled 

 in the tenth century (E. Llwyd gives 940, Taylor 942, 

 Wotton 943, Rhys and Jones 942-3). The authors of 

 " The Welsh People " say of the authenticity of the copies 

 we now possess : — " There is no reason for not carrying 

 back the first setting down in writing of the Welsh 

 customs to the time of Howel Dda. Nor is there any real 

 doubt that these bodies of law consist of custumals which 

 were once in actual operation " (third edition, 185). 



The following quotations are taken from the " 'Vene- 

 dotian Code," the oldest of the " Three Books of the 

 Law" (from "Ancient Laws and Institutions of Wales," 

 Commission Records, 1841, A. Owen). 



" XL Here begin the laws concerning landed property 

 and the form of pleading in respect thereto. 



" (i) Twice the law shall be open for landed property, 

 and twice it shall be closed. 



" (2) From the ninth of the calends of winter 

 (Kalangayaf) it shall be open until the ninth day of 

 February. 



" (3) From the ninth day of February the law shall be 

 closed until the -ninth day of May. 



" (4) From the ninth day of May the law shall be open 

 until the ninth day of August. 



" (.0 From the ninth dav of August the law shall be 

 closed until the ninth day of the calends of winter. 



" (6) The reason why the law shall be closed in autumn 

 and spring is because the land is cultivated during these 

 two periods : lest ploughing in the spring and reaping in 

 autumn be impeded. 



