Yesterday I saw on a calendar that 10 January was the day of Geraint the Blue Bard. I never heard of him before and so I started doing some research to find out about him. Here is what I found. If anyone else knows anything about him, I'd be very interested to hear about it! Surely I am no medieval scholar, so perhaps someone has something to add to this.

Geraint was a ninth century bard and harpist, honoured with a sacred day set aside for him. He was also known as Bret Glascurion or Glasgerion.

In Chaucer's "House of Fame" he is mentioned:

Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe
That sowned bothe wel and sharpe,
Orpheus ful craftely,
And on his syde, faste by,
Sat the harper Orion,
And Eacides Chiron,
And other harpers many oon,
And the Bret Glascurion.

It is possible that Chaucer had heard of such a famous Welsh poet from Lewis Johan, who was certainly an acquaintance of Chaucer if not a friend.

Gertain is also mentioned (as Glasgerion) in an English/Scots folk ballad collected by Child:

Glasgerion was a kings owne sonne,
And a harper he was good;
He harped in the kings chamber,
Where cuppe and candle stoode,
And soe did hee in the queens chamber,
Till ladies waxed wood.
And then bespake the kings daughter.

A third mention of him is in the Barddas of Iolo Morganwg (J. Williams ab Ithel) I know Iolo is a dubious source because he invented a lot of the "history" he wrote about, but here is "The Philosophy of the Blue Bard of the Chair" which is attributed to Geraint:

In the forehead is the intellect;
In the nape is the memory;
In the pate is discretion;
In the understanding, memory, and
discretion together, is reason;
In the lungs is the breath;
In the breast is lust;
In the liver is the heat;
In the veins is the blood;
In the bile is anger;
In the spleen is joyousness;
In the heart is love;
In the affection is the soul;
In the soul is the mind;
In the mind is faith;
In faith is the Son of God;
In the Son of God is imperishable life;
In imperishable life is gwynvyd;

Without end; and blessed is he, who rightly exercises the faculties with which God has endued him, in order to attain to endless gwynvyd, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Blue Bard of the Chair has said it.

The Preface in the copy of The Barddas that I borrowed from a friend explains that this "Chair" refers to the Chair that Geraint established at Llandaff at the beginning of the tenth century. It was called the Chair of Morganwg or the Chair of Tir Iarll and was eventually taken over by the Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain. It was "well protected as long as the lords of Glamorgan retained sovereign authority over that territory; and the rights and immunities of the Bards were renewed from time to time, but always on the condition that they should investigate and preserve the sciences of Bardism."

When Llywelyn, son of Gruffydd, was slain at the end of the year 1282, Cymru's independence ended and so did the rights and immunities of the Bards. They were forbidden from meeting publically in Gorsedd, were harshly persecuted and no longer were allowed to receive the patronage of Welsh princes. Concerned that the bardic tradition would die out and be forgotten, they started to collect whatever material they had, to be preserved in books. One of the most valuable sources came from Geraint, since he was among the earliest to actually put into writing some things about the oral traditions of the bards and their system. Unfortunately, Oliver Cromwell later destroyed the Library of Welsh Manuscripts where much of this was kept.

F.N. Robinson describes Geraint as a British bard, "probably the same as Glasgerion or Glascurion of a well-known ballad, whose name may go back to that of 'the Blue Bard Keraint' supposed to have lived in the 10th century." Citing Iolo Morganwg, W.O. Pughe and Thomas Price as his references (Iolo being dubious), Glascurion, brother of King Morgan Hen of Glamorgan, was a collector of poetry who wrote the earliest Welsh grammar and other pieces of prose and verse, some of them published in London in 1807. He also went to London with other bards and was appointed court poet to King Alfred, thus bringing about "an improvement in learning and knowledge among the Saxons."

The folk ballad now known as "Jack Orion" is what has evolved from the original Child ballad about Glascurion. See this page for some interesting details about the song.

This identification of Glascurion as Geraint the Blue Bard was further supported by Mr. Edward Williams in the Cambrian Journal September 1858, which included an essay on the Child ballads. Professor Child himself also accepted this, although somewhat cautiously.

It was a pleasant surprise to find a day on the calendar set aside to remember an ancient Bard. It set me off on an interesting quest and I was glad to learn a little about him. He should be added to our who's who list.