The Eisteddfod and the Castles of Edward I

I hold my hands up… this is not a castle case study, but I promise it is interesting stuff (including a timeline at the end)!

Last week I visited the ‘A Oes Heddwch? The Eisteddfod Tradition’ Exhibition in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth… so I cannot pass the opportunity to introduce the subject of one of my semi-researched thesis chapters and a work-in-progress journal article.

What is an Eisteddfod?

The Eisteddfod is an annual Welsh language music and literary festival. It takes place every year in August, with its location alternating between North and South Wales. The Urdd Eisteddfod is the equivalent for under 25s and has just been conducted in Denbigh. The event provides a stage for Welsh talent, promotes businesses in Wales, and hosts a variety of oratory, musical and creative competitions.

Revived in 1789, small-scale gatherings were held in pubs. These isolated gatherings occurred throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and in 1819 the Eisteddfod united with Iolo Morganwg’s fictitious Gorsedd (an invented ancient ceremony that had supposedly survived Edward I’s Welsh conquest in which individuals are inaugurated as bards within a stone circle). These circles can be found across Wales. Next time you’re in Mold, Aberystwyth or Ruthin look out for them in the castle grounds!

Together, the Eisteddfod and Gorsedd celebrate Wales’ past, present and future.

The Gorsedd Circle at Aberystwyth Castle. Look at that sunset!

What’s all this got to do with castles?

In recent years, historians have begun to tackle questions about how the Eisteddfod events of the long nineteenth century influenced politics, culture, identities, and internal British relationships. Perhaps owing to its itinerant nature, the spaces of these events often remain confined to being geographical details, rather than the crucial avenues of research they ought to be!

It’s time to change that… as castles and the Eisteddfod have a long history. In fact, the very first Eisteddfod hosted by Lord Rhys, ruler of Deheubarth, took place at Cardigan Castle in 1176. The castles built during and after the 13th century conquest of Wales by the English King Edward I, in particular, proved popular choices and served as venues for at least 14 celebrations.

An advertisement I saw while at the NLW Eisteddfod Exhibition

Now, you might think, given the nature of these events in the twenty-first century, that they have always promoted the culture and language of Wales for the people of Wales, but this is not accurate.

The festivals revival came at a time when would-be-grand-tour-travellers could not access the continent easily, and so for various reasons (prominently for its wild landscape and unique Celtic culture) Wales became ‘the’ place to go. Thanks to the paintings of William Turner, the poetry of Thomas Grey, and the drama of Matthew Lewis, these wealthy English travellers were well-acquainted with romanticized ‘imagined’ notions of Welsh people and culture. This concept of Wales, that was alive in the expectations of the mass arrivals of English visitors, endured for decades…

Given this context it is not surprising that the Eisteddfod of the nineteenth century proved so popular with English visitors. Harp music and bardic ceremonies all held within the walls of a ruined ivy-covered castle “spiffing” says the English romantic. Owing to the constant presence of English tourists, during the first half of the 19th century the Eisteddfod was more attraction than national institution. This isn’t to say Welsh culture, language, and people were absent from proceedings, far from it, and this improved once the festival became annualized in the 1860s. The Eisteddfod became central to upholding the narrative of the Welsh as descendants of an ancient British civilization, whose cultural individualism survived and triumphed above all the challenges of history.

Now, think about it…

Castle Eisteddfodau in long nineteenth century brought together Welsh and English people (at a time of growing national feeling, industrialisation, and popular historically-orientated movements) within the walls of medieval buildings constructed by one nation to oppress the other to celebrate a culture unconquered…

What could possibly go wrong!

The Castle Eisteddfod

'The 1862 Eisteddfod was held in Caernarfon Castle.’ The 1862 Eisteddfod at Caernarfon. Eisteddfod. <http://eisteddfod.wales/1862-eisteddfod-caernarfon>

This is a big and complex area of research, influenced by changing cultural, political, and social elements, which would be impossible for my humble little blog post to fully engage with. I do, however, want to share a few (of many) pieces of primary evidence I’ve come across that demonstrate how the Eisteddfod proceedings intensified the contentious status and contradictory receptions of these fortresses… so bear with me!

It is undeniable that Edward I’s castles are symbolic… of what exactly was very much up for debate during 19th century castle Eisteddfodau.

• Do they signify the irrevocable loss of Welsh independence to English aggression and enduring subjection?

The Eisteddfod was anglicized well into the 20th century, influencing the location, the language spoken, the competitions, and the musical selections. The scale of English inclusion during the 19th century was monumental. And yet… English ignorance of the objectives of the Eisteddfod, and a fear of politicization, resulted in individuals finding the proceedings offensive:

‘I must say that hitherto I have been utterly disgusted with Eisteddfod.’ The speeches ‘have been one continued strain of praise to the Welsh nation, and one continued strain of disparagement of the English nation. I think it is high time for such ‘Tom foolery’ to pass,’ were the words of Englishman Rev R. Harris Jones as he addressed the Flint Castle Eisteddfod of 1865.

He concluded by urging Britain not to ‘be divided into clannish and peevish sections.’ The member of parliament for Flint, Sir John Hanmer, in response said, ‘I do not think these meetings gain anything by the Saxon element… the more the Eisteddfod is kept to the Welsh and the more it avoids the Saxon, the better altogether.’[1] Drama in the castle!

Castle settings did affix the criticism of anglicization to the history of conquest. The audience at the 1861 Conwy Eisteddfod were reminded that these gatherings were intended to ‘foster a love for the Welsh language which is supposed to be seriously threatened by the surging waves of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.’ Similarly a newspaper correspondent attending the 1880 Caernarfon Eisteddfod even remarked how ‘grim and gaunt shadows of olden times yet remain,’ adding further that the town cannot be dissociated with the tyranny of Edward I.[2]

• Are they monuments to the resilience and resistive spirit of the Welsh – in other words – look at the unprecedented quantity and scale of castle building that had to happen to subdue the people of Wales?

Writing the coverage of the 1886 Caernarfon Eisteddfod, the Western Mail correspondent remarked:

“As the procession approached the immense castle it seemed to me six centuries watched if from the summit of its lofty walls. As we approached the massive stairs across the moat the eye fell on the figure, defaced by the storms of the north, of Edward I… One felt the men of Harlech had triumphed indeed, for here they were pouring into the castle of Carnarvon for the purpose of observing their rites and ceremonies of the Gorsedd of their ancestors. And when one thought of the almost impregnable castles of Conway, Beaumaris, Harlech, and others, which were built to hold in check the bold natives of North Wales, whose descendants were now entering with music into Carnarvon Castle, one felt that, indeed, “An iron race the mountain cliff contained.”[3]

Seen as symbols of the strength of medieval Welsh resilience, the scale of the castles denoted the challenge Edward I faced during the conquest. Encouraging the celebration of the triumph of Welsh culture through the ages, a writer for the South Wales Echo, who upon regarding the figure of Edward I adorning the gate deemed one ‘living subject’ to be of ‘more value than a thousand dead emperors, and the castle greensward was soon thronged with the peaceful and peace loving sons and daughters of Gwalia.’[4] Journalist Owen Morgan (Morien) joined these expressions of patriotic enthusiasm by noting ‘the triumph of the Welsh nationality over all its old misfortunes touched ones heart.’[5]

The castles were objects of pride. When recollecting what scenes Conwy Castle would have witnessed during the medieval period, Mr John Roberts, MP for Flintshire, remarked to the audience of the 1879 Eisteddfod of his pride when he ‘remembered the daring and courage of the old Cymry.’[6] Honouring historical figures slain during the conquest also occurred, for example in 1861 Conwy’s banqueting hall was adorned with banners bearing the words Heddwch I Iwch Llewelyn ein Llyn Olaf (Peace be to Llewelyn our last steward).

• Or do they represent a longer history, beyond the medieval period, of a story violence-to-peace?

Often seen as an opportunity ‘to draw the cord which binds the sons of Albion and Cambria closer still together,’ castles whose history deeply involved both nations were the obvious choice of venue.[7]

What I like to call ‘anti-parallels’ – comparing the past to the present and seeing the reverse – happened a lot!

‘When we contrast the past with the present,’ Reverend Benjamin Evans of Conwy remarked in 1861 at Conwy Castle, ‘anarchy and confusion have been replaced by harmony and peace.’ ‘We now stand united, hand and heart, with perfect order, upon the ever-memorial spot on which the lifeless head of Llewelyn was presented to Edward I.’[8] Reflections on the events of history reinforced the long relationship between the two nations, the president of the proceedings, George Osborne Morgan, even used the castle as a metaphor for the changing relationship of Wales and England. ‘Hard and grim in its youth, it has, in its old age, with its bald uncovered head, and deeply furrowed wrinkles, opened its portals to us to celebrate this joyous and peaceful festival, which, will live not only in the records of your bardic gatherings, but will be commemorated in the history of the social progress of our native land.’[9]

At the 1862 Caernarvon Castle Eisteddfod, Talhaiarn, a prominent Welsh poet, encouraged the audience to ‘let bye-gones be bye-gones, and (to) let the evils of the past be buried in oblivion.’[10] While, Charles Wynne, Member of Parliament for Caernarvonshire, even suggested that the conquest of Wales by Edward I was not something any ‘sensible person will seriously regret,’ as it was these events that threw ‘open the whole British Empire’ to Wales.[11]

To conclude

My conclusions on this are not fully formed but I’ll do my best...

Castle locations for Eisteddfodic proceedings attracted large Anglo-Welsh audiences and historicised the events.

It seems as though symbolism was applied at convenience, and frequently the same event inspired different outlooks on the past.

The circumstances of the Eisteddfod in the castle setting undoubtedly intensified reflection on the histories of the castles and this certainly highlighted and influenced the complexities concerning Anglo-Welsh identities and relationships of the crowd, wider communities, and more broadly the nineteenth-century British state.

Castles retain a connection to the Eisteddfod in the 21st century, with proclamations of events being staged in the castles of Caldicot (2015) and Cardigan (2019).

Footnotes

[1] ‘Flint Castle Eisteddfod and Grand Musical Festival.’ The North Wales Chronicle. NLW 12 Aug 1865. P.4

[2] ‘The National Eisteddfod at Carnarvon.’ Weekly Mail. NLW. 28th Aug 1880. P.8

[3] ‘The Carnarvon Eisteddfod.’ The Western Mail. 15th September 1886. NLW. P.3

[4] ‘The Carnarvon Eisteddfod.’ South Wales Echo. 15th Sept 1886. NLW. P.2

[5] ‘The National Eisteddfod of Wales.’ The Western Mail. 16th Sept 1886. NLW. P.3

[6] ‘The Conway National Eisteddfod.’ The North Wales Express. 8th Aug 1879. NLW. P.5

[7] ‘Conway Grand Eisteddfod.’ The Cambrian Journal. Alban Elved. NLW. P.214.

[8] ‘Conway Grand Eisteddfod.’ The Cambrian Journal. Alban Elved. NLW. P.214

[9] ‘Conway Eisteddfod.’ The North Wales Chronicle. 17th Aug 1861. NLW. P.3

[10] The North Wales Chronicle. 30 Aug 1862. NLW. P.2.

[11] The North Wales Chronicle. 30 Aug 1862. NLW. P.4.

Quick reading

· The National Library of Wales’ Welsh Newspapers Online Database – Highly recommend! Honestly, I couldn’t do my PhD without it!

https://newspapers.library.wales/

· ‘A Oes Heddwch: The Eisteddfod Tradition.’ Running until 09.09.22 at the National Library of Wales.

For more information see:

https://www.library.wales/visit/things-to-do/exhibitions/a-oes-heddwch-the-eisteddfod-tradition

· The Eisteddfod Website

http://eisteddfod.Wales

(Particularly the ‘About us’ pages, which feature ‘stories from past Eisteddfodau,’ ‘the history behind the pavilions,’ and a very handy list of ‘Past locations.’)

· The Urdd Eisteddfod Website

https://www.urdd.cymru/en/eisteddfod/

· The History of the Welsh Eisteddfod, National Museum Wales

https://museum.wales/collections/eisteddfodau/national/

Eisteddfod and the castles of Edward I: A Timeline (with some fun facts)

1821 - Caernarfon

The first of many prominent nineteenth-century Welsh cultural celebrations to play out within the medieval fortresses built by King Edward I (as far as I can tell). Hosted in the walls of Caernarfon Castle in North-West Wales.

1824 – Denbigh

It was at this Eisteddfod that Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and Thomas Moore were elected as Honorary Members of the Cymmrodorian Society of Gwynedd, none of whom were Welsh!

Held on a bowling green in the castle (recreational spaces in castle ground became a thing in the nineteenth century), the Duke of Sussex was among the attendees

1832 – Beaumaris

Hosted by Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley, Bart. M.P, owner of the castle, this Eisteddfod stands out as the then Princess Victoria, on one of her very few trips to Wales in her lifetime, presented some prizes.

​1850 – Rhuddlan

The preparations for this Eisteddfod were immense. Newspapers reported an ‘amphitheatre’ construction inside the walls of the castle, complete with waterproof roofing, candelabras and chandeliers, a ballroom-area, and a dining space to seat 300 people. The main attraction of this no-doubt glamorously excessive event was a performance of German composer Handel’s The Messiah.

1860 – Denbigh

One competition at this event was for the best essay on ‘the advantages of the knowledge of the English language to Welshmen.’ Only one of the entrants was written in Welsh.

1861 - Conwy

Recognised as the first year the Eisteddfod became an annual event, 1861 saw Conwy Castle used for the festivities (although the official national event was held in Aberdare)

​1862 – Caernarfon

The first Eisteddfod held at a castle of Edward I after the annualization and nationalisation of the institution.

​1865 – Flint

This event was a bit dramatic, as English and Welsh individuals addressing the crowd disagreed (see above!)

From this point onwards, castles mostly served as spaces for the Gorsedd ceremonies to be conducted in as a result of the events growing popularity and conservation concerns by castle guardians.

1877 – Caernarfon

An iron pavilion was constructed within the town for this event (and enabled Caernarfon to essentially monopolise on the festival hosting it again in 1880 and 1886).

1879 – Conwy

Bad weather damped this event. Englishman Mr Henry Kneeshaw, high sheriff of Caernarfonshire, was the president of this Eisteddfod.

1880 – Caernarfon

The Prince of Wales and Prince Leopold both turned down invitations to occupy the president’s chair.

1882 – Denbigh

Prime Minister Gladstone was invited to the gathering to act as president, however replied confirming that he could not attend but his wife would in his place.

1886 – Caernarfon

The theme of Welsh triumph over historic woes was central to newspaper reports of this event (see above).

1894 - Caernarfon

The Prince of Wales finally made his first appearance at an Eisteddfod, after calls for him to do so for nearly 20 years. After a morning at the Eisteddfod, the Prince and co. retired to Caernarfon Castle for lunch in the old banqueting hall where he was presented with a miniature model of the fortress made of gold.