EISTEDDFOD, 3s-ta7;D'va\d (Welsh, from eisteaid, to it -4- mod, circle). A Welsh word. meaning literally 'sitting.' or 'session.' It is applied to the assemblies of bards and people, of which there are two sorts—the national or general body, and the provincial gatherings which take place in many parts of \Vales, and even among the Welsh in the United States. The in stitution is supposed to be of very ancient origin; but the eisteddfods traditionally ascribed to the tifth. sixth. and seventh centuries can hardly be deemed historic. In 1100 Gruffydd ap Cynan is supposed to have held a great national eistedd fod at Caer•ys. and in 1170 Lord Rhys is known to have held at his castle of Aberteifi a grand festival with musical competitions—the earliest eisteddfod of which we have any actual account. In the twelfth century. as Professor Rhys ob the eisteddfod appears to have been "a regularly constituted court, bearing all the marks of antiquity." Tts function was to license bards
and regulate their privileges. Again in the time of the Tudors we find the eisteddfod recognized as a tribunal of authority, and Queen Elizabeth in 15GS issued a commission for holding, one. In the seventeenth century the eisteddfod seems to have fallen into abeyance. and it was not revived until the nineteenth. Tt has now become an institu tion of prime importance for the intellectual life of the Welsh people. The national gathering is held every year in North and South Wales alter nately, and is attended by many thousands of people.
Consult Mays and Bryntnor-Jones. The Welsh People (London. 1900). The programmes of conl• recent eisteddfods have been published in Cam marodor. See Rums.