A bard (bardos) was a type of priest or seer in ancient Celtic society, and a minstrel in medieval Welsh and Irish societies. The word Bard is used in English and other Indo-Euopean languages chiefly to denote a Celtic poet (and musician). The Bard was a repository of histories, stories, legends, songs and poetry of his people before the printing press. Throughout the British Isles local kings, princes and chieftains maintained bards, bestowing gitfs upon them for their services. The bards played the harp and Monasteries also occasionally maintained bards as historians and genealogists.

In the days of Edward King of England and of Toirdhealbhach King of Ireland, Gruffydd King of Gwynedd was born in Ireland in the city of Dublin. Gruffydd ap Cynan had been a yeare in Ireland as a guest of King Dermot and other noblemen, he eventually assembled a kingly fleet from Waterford which the King had given him full of Danes, Irishmen, and Britons, and after spreading sails at sea, and the wind being favourable behind them, and the sea tranquil, he came to Porthclais, hard by the Archbishopric of St. Davids. For Gruffydd was a son of King Cynan, son of Iago, son of Idwal. King Gruffydd had two brothers of the same mother, Kings of Ulster, namely, Raghnall son of Mathgamhain, who by his valour gained two parts of Ireland in six weeks. In Co. Clare, for example, many of the people who appear in the records as MacRory were O'Briens, MacNamaras and MacMahons. In O'Brien's Dictionary, the MacMahons and MacDonnells are given as branches of the Thomond O'Briens, the posterity of Brian Boru; and, therefore, of quite a different descent from the MacMahons, princes and Lords of Monaghan, and the MacDonnells, earls of Antrim, and the MacDonnells of Kilkee, county Clare, who were of Clan Donald, the race of Clan Colla. The Deisi of Tara were driven from Waterford city, a Norse foundation and it became Ormond. Later some resumed their real patronymic but a larger number became Rodgers, thus obscuring their Dalcassian origin; North Munster.

Then arose much evil and tribulation in Gwynedd, and in the midst of this, after a short time, Hugh Earl of Chester and many other princes, that is to say, Robert of Rhuddlan, Warenne of Shrewsbury, alter Earl of Hereford, assembled the largest host in the world of horsemen and footmen, and took with them Gwrgan ap Seisyll and the men of Powys, and traversed the mountains until they came into Lleyn.

 

 

 

In 920, Bloodaxe undertook a Viking expedition to Bjarmaland, in northern Russia when the Saxons retook East Anglia from the Danes as German king Henry the Fowler conquers Utrecht, which had been in posession of the Vikings for 70 years. The golden age of the Empire of Ghana began in Africa. The Welsh ruler Howell the Good merged Dyfed and Seisyllwg and established a new kingdom known as Deheubarth. The approach of Wales to Saxon England was continued. A grandson of Rhodri Mawr, Hywel Dda's (Howell the Good) prosperous reign brought him to Rome with three Welsh bishops in 926, to inquire about the laws of Roman Britain. Howel's kingdom reached its full extent in 943. Texts circulated in Gwynedd, Demetia (Dyfed) and Waterford, Gwent contain laws to see that Wales presented the features of the good society, and the established church. Whitland Abbey took pride of place amongst the early Cistercian abbeys of south Wales and was from the first a house of the native Welsh in which members of the chief families took the habit and became abbots. In 1164 the Anglo-Norman lord, Robert fitz Stephen, founded Strata Florida Abbey on the banks of the River Fflur, on a site known today as yr hen fynachlog, which means ‘the old monastery’.

The Laws of Hywel Dda (Howel the Good), distinguish two classes of bard: the bardd teulu, who was a permanent official of the king's household, and the pencerdd ('chief of song'), or head of the bardic fraternity in the district. These classes of resident and itinerant bards, also found in Ireland and Scotland, are similar to classes found amongst other Indo-European ethnic groups, e.g. in Anglo-Saxon England the classes of scop and gleeman. These classes, like the Scandinavian skald and other poet-musicians of early nations, have sometimes been termed 'bards' in English literature.

 

 

 

The word was from Latin bardus, Greek bardos, in turn loanwords from the Gaulish language, describing a class of Celtic priest (c. f. druid, vates). From this romantic use came the epitheton The Bard applied to William Shakespeare and Robert Burns. Bards make up one of the three grades of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a Neo-Druidic order based in England from the time of Ollav Fola. In the Christian context, some confusion is caused for English speakers by two different Greek words traditionally translated as priest. Both occur in the New Testament, which draws a distinction not always observed in English.

Amarna letters, consisting of cuneiform tablets mostly written in Akkadian, the language of diplomacy for this period on Egyptian relations with Babylonia, Assyria, the Mitanni, the Hittites, Syria, Palestine and Cyprus (Alashiya), and his representative in the Canaan region to the ancient Near East. Letters from the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I anchor Akhenaten's reign to the mid-14th century BCE. To the Hebrews, in Western Galilee, the region was known as Acre but it is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely Judges 1:31, as one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanite inhabitants. Throughout the period of Hebrew domination connections were always with Syria rather than with the Philistines about 725 BC it joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against governor Shalmaneser V in Phoenicia. The Philistines lost their independence to Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria by 736 BC, and revolts in following years were all crushed. Later, Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon eventually conquered all of Syria and the land of Canaan, and the Philistine cities became part of the Neo-Babylonian empire.

The first, presbyteros, Latin presbyter, is traditionally translated priest and the English word priest is indeed etymologically derived from this word; literally, it means elder, and is used in neutral and non-religious contexts in Greek to refer to seniority or relative age. The second, hiereus, Latin sacerdos, refers to priests who offer sacrifice, such as the priesthood of the Jewish Temple, or the priests of pagan gods. The New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews draws a distinction between the Jewish priesthood and that of Christ; it teaches that the sacrificial atonement made by Jesus Christ has made the Jewish priesthood redundant. Thus, for Christians, Christ himself is uniquely hiereus.

  • Priest Mac an t-Sagairt
  • priest, chaplain, sagart
  • priesthood, secretaryship ---clčireachas
  • priesthood sagartachd
  • Priestland Fearann an t-Sagairt
  • priestly sagartail
  • confessor sagart-faoisid, neach-aideachaidh

Most Protestant denominations do not use the term "priest" to describe the individual who has an officiating role because of its association with the idea of the Eucharist as sacrifice. In these denominations leaders of congregations are instead typically called "ministers" or "pastors" and are not necessarily believed to possess any special sacramental charism by virtue of their office. Lutheranism uses "priest" in Scandinavia and the Baltics and in churches deriving from there, but not in Germany and churches deriving from there. The churches of the Anglican Communion universally refer to three orders of ordained ministry: bishops, priests and deacons. Priestly celibacy was abolished during the Reformation, although Anglican priests in religious orders normally are celibate.

Quakerism does not grant a special priestly role to any individual, partly because Quakers do not practice any special sacraments that require priestly mediation, and partly because they believe that the priesthood of all believers grants the potential of a spiritual and ministerial role to all individuals within the denomination, regardless of sex or status within the faith.

A monk is a person who practices asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. The concept is very ancient and can be seen in many religions. In Ancient Persia Atharvans were the highest, sacerdotal class similar to the Brahmanic caste. A Brahmin is a member of a caste of priests of the Vedic religion within Hindu society. The division of the Agnihotra among the Hotar, the Udgatar and the Adhvaryu is directly comparable to the Celtic priesthood as reported by Strabo, with the Druids as high priests, the Bards doing the chanting and the Vates performing the actual sacrifice. According to Strabo the country of the Belgae extended from the Rhenus (Rhine) to the Liger (Loire). Belgica was one of the four provinces of Gaul near the Rhine, delineated by Augustus. Most Irish rivers have descriptive names, but there are rivers whose names mean nothing in Irish and have been christened by the Firbolgs. Fermanagh is in North Ireland while all the other neighbouring counties are within the republic. The River Shannon and Lough Allen divide Leitrim into North Leitrim and South Leitrim.