View source for Bards

'''[[https://ansteorra.org/artsandsciences/performingarts/bardic Ansteorran Bardic Guild Website]'''

== History: ==
The Bardic arts have always been strong in Ansteorra.

The Queen's College of Bards was founded by Queen Willow I, who was a poet and storyteller and a strong patron of the bardic arts. Queen Seglinde I, herself a skilled performer, actively encouraged bardic activities.

A Blue Scarf was worn by members of the Queen's College of Bards to identify themselves as performers. The scarf was sky blue with gold tassels, and usually worn balric-style. The annual publication of the College was also titled "The Blue Scarf."

In the mid-1980's there was a short-lived attempt at creating a competition-based ranking system, denoted by stripes of colored rickrack on the scarves. These became derisively known as "bardic bragging sashes" and the system was abandoned sometime after 1990.

At the Twenty-Year and Twenty-Five Year celebrations of the Society's founding (both hosted by Ansteorra), bardic arts were featured prominently.  Grand Court at TYC featured the song, "Come Share the Dream" written and performed by Duchess Seiglinde (with contributions by [[Iolo Fitzowen]] and [[Brendan O Corraidhe]]that is still performed twenty years later.


See Also: Article - [[Ancient College of Queen’s Bards]]<BR>

== Projects: ==
* [http://bard.ansteorra.org/songbooks/voices_01.pdf Voices of the Star] - a compilation of Ansteorran songs, created by Alden Drake in 2004.  In 2009, an effort was made to create a Volume II.

== Well Known Bards of the 1980s: ==
<ul>
<li>Duchess [[Willow de Wisp]]</li>
<li>Duchess [[Siglinde Syr]]</li>
<li>Master [[Cadfan ap Morgan]]</li>
<li>Master [[Ragnar Mjorkwulf]]</li>
<li>Master [[Iolo Fitzowen]]</li>
<li>Mistress [[Aerin ni Heurin]]</li>
<li>Mistress [[Sula von Pferdenthal]]</li>
<li>THL [[Brendan O Corraidhe]]</li>
<li>Ld [[Stephen of Durham]]</li>
</ul>
<BR>
== Kingdom Bards of Ansteorra ==
[https://op.ansteorra.org/awards/id/5 Premier Bards of Ansteorra]

[[Category:Guilds]]