BARD

name for Celtic poet, who enjoyed special social rank; later applied to verse-writers in general. As national minstrels they flourished in Early Gaul and Britain, and their primitive office has been revived in Wales. The Welsh b’s were exempt from taxes and military service, and up to the time of Elizabeth, summoned by royal authority. The modern revival began c. 1822, 222 A.D.), early Christian teacher; b. Ede a, Me so pot am i a; author of numerous religious. writings, all of which are lost, with the exception of the Hymn of the Soul contained in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas.