Bardic Freedom (was RE: Hail Poetry!)

[Heather Rose Jones]

On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Mike Baker wrote:

> Having retrieved a copy of my paper from the depths of a car not unloaded 
> since Memorial Day weekend....Quoting from my own work:
> 
> "An ancient British law held three classes of employment ('professions') to 
> be free from slavery: smiths, scholars of languages, and bards.  'When once 
> the smith had entered a smithy, the scholar had been polled [?], or the bard 
> had composed a song, they could never more be deprived of their freedom.'" 
> <directly quotation here taken from W. Winwood Reade, _The Veil of Isis, or 
> Mysteries of the Druids_, Newcastle Publishing reprint [original pub. info. 
> not given in reprint], 1992, pg. 83>

May I indulge in a little scholarly criticism here? All my "woo-woo" 
radar goes off at a title like "The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the 
Druids". How certain are you of the accuracy of this source? What do you 
know about _it's_ sources? A lot of the ... shall we say, "less rigorous" 
modern writings on druids use sources like Iolo Morgannwg (Edward 
Williams) who is infamous for having completely muddied the waters of 
research on bardic and druidic history with his forgeries and inventions. 
Now, I could be completely wrong about the book in question.  But I don't 
know of any extant sources of "ancient British laws" earlier than the 
Hywel Dda tradition (unless "British" is being interpreted to include 
Anglo-Saxon, for which there are earlier codes available).

> In examining the differences between sources here, "scholar" and "clerk" 
> appear to have been transposed by time and culture.  Prior to the impact of 
> the Christian structure, I will suggest that the "polling" of a scholar may 
> be the equivalent of oral examination for a thesis; taking of vows in the 
> Christian ecclesiastical system becomes the analogue of the (presumably) 
> earlier practice.  Alternatively, and I certainly admit to a degree of 
> guesswork here, could "polling" infer acceptance of the tonsure?

I would assume that "polling" refers to the tonsure itself -- one of the 
meanings of the verb is "to cut hair". During the period we're speaking 
of "clerk", "scholar" and the like were synonymous with someone who had 
taken (or was studying to take) clerical orders (cleric = clerk).

> Being only recently arrived in this forum, and since you've mentioned it 
> twice now in recent traffic, allow me to ask (with only a slight amount of 
> humour implied) "Journal? There is an English-language *journal* on these, 
> or at least related, matters?"  How would I perhaps obtain order information 
> for same?

The journal I was referring to was my own "Y Camamseriad: a journal of 
Welsh research for the SCA". I'm hoping to have something of a "bardic 
theme" for this year's issue (although the "themes" never end up being 
what I intend). I'll send you a catalog privately.

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn