Chairing of the Bard

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The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week.^[1] Winners are referred to as Y Prifardd (literally "The Chief Bard"). The custom of chairing the bard is, however, much older than the modern eisteddfod ceremony, and is known to have taken place as early as 1176.^[2]

A new bardic chair is specially designed and made for each eisteddfod and is awarded to the winning entrant in the competition for the "awdl", poetry written in a strict metre form known as cynghanedd. It is possible for the chair to be withheld, if the standard of entries is not considered high enough by the judges. This was the case in 1889, when a chair made for a minor eisteddfod at Bagillt, in Flintshire, was not awarded. The chair in question made news in 2006, when it was returned to Wales after being acquired by a local Welsh society in Canada.^[5] The withholding of the chair happened most recently in 2013 at the Eisteddfod in Denbigh.^[6]

Before the Archdruid of the Gorsedd reveals the identity of the winning poet, the Corn Gwlad (a trumpet) blares to the east, west, north, and south to symbolically call the people together from the four corners of Wales. The Gorsedd Prayer is then recited. Flanked by his fellow members of the Gorsedd in ceremonial Neo-Druidic robes, as well as the Herald, the Recorder, and the Swordbearer, the Archdruid partially withdraws the Great Sword from its sheath three times, and asks, "A oes heddwch?" ('Is there peace?'), to which the assembly replies, "Heddwch" ('Peace'). The Great Sword is then driven fully back into its sheath, and is never drawn again until the next eisteddfod the following year. "Green clad elves come dancing in", escorting a young local married woman, who presents the Horn of Plenty to the Archdruid and urges him to drink of the 'wine of welcome'. A young girl presents him with a basket of 'flowers from the land and soil of Wales' and a floral dance is performed, based on a pattern of flower gathering from the fields.^[7]

According to historian Jan Morris, "Harps play. Children sing. The tension mounts, for nobody in that immense audience yet knows who is to be the recipient of all this honour. The winning poet is somewhere among them, but first he must be found."^[7]

The Archdruid then asks one of the judges to comment on the winning entry and explain the reasons why it was chosen. After the judge does so, the Archdruid thanks the judge for his or her, "excellent adjudication". The Archdruid then announces that if the poet or writer whose awdl, pryddest, or essay was submitted under a certain pen name is present, then he or she is to stand up.

According to Morris, "the poet has really known for some time that he is the winner, but he pretends a proper astonishment anyway, and is raised faintly resisting to his feet, and out to the aisle, and away up to the platform escorted by Druids. The organ blazes a grand march, the gathering rises to its feet, the cameras whirr, and the bard is throned upon his Bardic throne, attended by elves and trumpeters and druids, in a haze of medallions, oaken wands, gleaming accoutrements and banners talismanically inscribed. Gently he is seated upon the Chair which is itself his prize, and he is proclaimed a champion: not because he won a war or a football game or even an election, but because he is judged by wise men of his nation to have composed a worthy cywydd concerning the nature of clouds."^[8]

In 1917, Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans) was awarded the Chair for his ode "Yr Arwr" ("The Hero"). On 6 September 1917, when the ceremony of Chairing of the Bard took place at the National Eisteddfod, held at Birkenhead Park, England, the adjudicators announced that the winning entry had been submitted under the pseudonym Fleur de Lys. After the trumpets had summoned the winner three times to stand forth from the audience, Archdruid Dyfed announced that he had been killed in action six weeks earlier. The winner's chair was then draped in a black sheet, and was thus delivered to the parents of Hedd Wyn. That year's eisteddfod is now referred to in the Welsh language as "Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu" ("The Eisteddfod of the Black Chair").

The chair from that ceremony, which was made by a Belgian carpenter, Eugeen Vanfleteren (1880–1950), who had fled to Britain when Belgium was invaded and had settled in Birkenhead,^[9] is on display at Yr Ysgwrn, the poet's former home.^[10]

Winning the "double" of bardic chair and crown at the same eisteddfod is a feat that has only been performed a handful of times in the history of the eisteddfod. Alan Llwyd and Donald Evans have each performed the double twice.^[11]

The first woman to win the Chair at the National Eisteddfod was Mererid Hopwood in 2001; she went on to win the crown at a later eisteddfod.

A junior version of the Chair is awarded at the Urdd National Eisteddfod, for the best poem in strict or free metre.^[12]

Multiple wins

More information Name, Number of wins ...

Name	Number of wins	Years
Evan Rees	4	1881, 1884, 1889, 1901
Thomas Jones	3	1876, 1888, 1890
John Evans	2	1952, 1954
John Owen Williams	3	1891, 1895, 1900
Alan Llwyd	3	1973, 1976, 2023
T Gwyn Jones	2	1902, 1909
JJ Williams	2	1906, 1908
TH Parry Williams	2	1912, 1915
Cledlyn Davies	2	1919, 1923
D Gwenallt Jones	2	1926, 1931
Dewi Emrys	4	1929, 1930, 1943, 1948
T. Rowland Hughes	2	1937, 1940
Rowland Jones	2	1941, 1949
Gwilym Tilsley	2	1950, 1957
T Llew Jones	2	1958, 1959
R Bryn Williams	2	1964, 1968
Emrys Roberts	2	1967, 1971
Gerallt Lloyd Owen	2	1975, 1982
Donald Evans	2	1977, 1980
Idris Reynolds	2	1989, 1992
Tudur Dylan Jones	2	1995, 2005
Ceri Wyn Jones	2	1997, 2014
T James Jones	2	2007, 2019
Gwenallt Llwyd Ifan	2	1999, 2021
Tudur Hallam	2	2010, 2025

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• Crowning of the Bard