Louvain Rees is a Welsh historian whose blog currently specialises in Death and Remembrance in South Wales. During the week of the Eisteddfod, held with an open Maes in Cardiff Bay this year, she will be releasing historical snippets on her twitter feed, and Wales Arts Review will be hosting the threads here, bringing together a long list of fascinating insights into the history of one of the largest and oldest festivals in the world.
You can follow Louvain on twitter, and read more about her work here on her blog. But be warned, Louvain says, “History is gritty. History is morbid. History is sexual. If you’re offended by these types of things you really shouldn’t be following me.”
THREAD: The National Eisteddfod of Wales at Cardiff starts today!
Throughout the week I’ll be tweeting historical snippets relating to the Eisteddfod. @Eisteddfod_eng #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/u0N9uUdQnx
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 3, 2018
On the 15th of September 1912, Kitty Marion was arrested for heckling Lloyd George at the Royal National Eisteddfod at Wrexham.
“…part[ed] with a large hank of her auburn hair that had been torn from her scalp.”
Read more: https://t.co/yW6VAbcffQ@Eisteddfod_eng #Wales pic.twitter.com/0qKVPx1bgL
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 3, 2018
The first-ever Gorsedd of the Bards was held by Iolo Morganwg on midsummer’s day, June 21st, 1792, on Primrose Hill, London. A second Gorsedd was held on September 22nd that same year.https://t.co/drU343xaxs #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/HgAh101rgm
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
Peithynen: The frame with the Coelbren y Beirdd – Iolo Morganwg’s Bardic Alphabet.
Coelbren y Beirdd was a false alphabet invented by Iolo Morganwg c.1791. #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/POtz2PMLpd
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
He claimed that it was the alphabet of the Celtic druids and that it had 20 ‘letters’ and 20 others to represent elongated vowels and mutations.
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
It would be hewn on a four-sided piece of wood and these pieces of wood would be placed in a frame, so that each piece could be turned to read all four sides. The name for this ‘book’ was ‘Peithynen’. #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/7HAgJVJcKp
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
Although the history of the Eisteddfod may traced back to a bardic competition held by the Lord Rhys in Cardigan Castle in 1176, the roots of the National Eisteddfod as we know it today lie in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
https://t.co/tOjZyMNw18 #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/B1QbKjSTHo— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
1789 and the Gwyneddigion Eisteddfodau.
Thomas Jones of Corwen, an assize-man who took a great interest in the eisteddfodau asked the Gwyneddigion, a society of Welsh exiles in London, to sponsor the Eisteddfod in Wales. https://t.co/cJP3WE00qo #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/Auo2nSPvv5
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 4, 2018
The Corwen Eisteddfod of 1789.
The first Eisteddfod took place at Corwen in May.
The winning poet was Gwallter Mechain, the Reverend Walter Davies.#Wales #History pic.twitter.com/KSrzRtajRk
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 5, 2018
Dr. David Samwell was so incensed that Twm o’r Nant had not won that he threatened one of Gwallter Mechain’s supporters to a duel. https://t.co/voW2hAq9WN #Wales #History
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 5, 2018
Twm o’r Nant’s Consolation Prize.
A silver pen was given to Twm o’r Nant by Dr David Samwell, surgeon to Captain Cook, as a consolation prize for having been supposedly unfairly beaten by Gwallter Mechain at the Corwen Eisteddfod in 1789.https://t.co/xcsLGqZ8WB#Wales pic.twitter.com/ELRI6fPKnR
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 5, 2018
The Bala Eisteddfod of 1789.
The second Eisteddfod of that year took place at Bala in September.
It was at Bala that The Gwyneddigion Society were, for the first time, the official patrons of the Eisteddfod. https://t.co/IlYcNT5asu #Wales #History pic.twitter.com/iItqcXhM45
— Louvain Rees (@hellohistoria) August 5, 2018
