Arthur's Round Table in Glamorgan

Abstract

THE history of the Gorsedd of the Bards is closely bound up with the history of Glamorgan. Early in the history of the winning of the district by the Anglo-Normans, one of the earls of Gloucester, as lord of Glamorgan, took the institution under his protection and patronage, and it became known as Gorsedd Tir Iarll, “Gorsedd of the Earl's Land”, and the district, comprising the parishes of Liangynwyd, Bettws, and Margarn, is still called after the title of the noble patron of the bards. From about the middle of the twelfth century, the history of the institution, as well as the succession of presiding bards, is as clear as one might expect to find the history of a largely secret society to be. What history is recorded in bardic writings of the institution before that date represents it as Arthur's Round Table, moved from place to place with the seat of government, from caerleon-upon-Usk to Loughor, back to Cardiff, its wanderings having been confined within the boundaries of the diocese of Llandaff, until finally it found a resting-place in the Earl's, Land. There is little reason to doubt the substantial truth of such records, and it is something to note that Arthur's Round Table, by name, has been all along regarded as the living institution known as Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain.