A Collection of Folk Tales - Two - The Welsh Bards.

The tragic tale of Edward I's massacre of the Welsh bards has long inspired artists and poets.

Thomas Gray popularised the legend in his romantic poem The Bard (1768) and in 1774, Thomas Jones painted a scene of the dramatic moment when rather than submit to King Edward's invading English army, the last Welsh bard takes his own life.

This painting by John Martin also 

comes from Thomas Gray's poem 

and depicts Edward I's Conwy Castle looming overhead.

The sole surviving bard here stands:

'On a rock, whose haughty brow

Frowns o'er old Conways foaming 

flood,

Robed in the sable garb of woe,

With haggard eyes the Poet stood;

(Loose his beard and hoary hair

Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air) 

(II. 15-20)

He curses the departing armies:

'Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!

Confusion on thy banners wait' 

(II. 1-2)

Between the seventeenth and eighteenth- century there was considerable research being carried out in to British History and the legitimate line of the monarchy and through this interest grew a fascination with Celtic literature and the role of the bard.

The bard was often pictured standing on a precipice, a lonely poet amongst ruins and decay.
Emerging from this were several literary forgeries, ancient manuscripts claimed to have been found by the likes of Chatterton and Macpherson's Ossian became a phenomenon.
A fascination with the Celtic languages and history became widespread.


Here as some useful links for more information.
BBC History Video - 'The Bardic Tradition'

The Bard by Thomas Gray with artwork by William Blake