EISLEBEN (Latin, HeUa the chief town of the Mansfield circle, in the government of Merseburg, province of Saxony, Prussia, is situated on the railway from Halle to Nordhausen and Cassel, 18 miles west from Halle. It con sists of an old and a new town, the former being surrounded by walls. In the vicinity are extensive copper and silver mines, and the town itself possesses smelting furnaces, several breweries, and manufactories of linen, tobacco, and saltpetre. Among its principal buildings are the old castle; the church of St Andrews, which contains numerous monu ments of the counts of Mansfield ; the church of St Paul and St Peter, in which is the font where Luther was baptized ; the Royal Gymnasium, founded by Luther shortly before his death in 1546; and the hospital. Eisleben is celebrated as the place where Luther was born and died. The house in which he was born was burned in 1689, but was rebuilt in 1693 as a free school for orphans; that in which he died has lately been renovated, and his death- chamber is still preserved.
The first mention of Eisleben dates from the llth century. During the insurrection of the peasants in 1525, it was partly destroyed, and it was immediately after this that the new town was founded. In 1780, when the counvship of Mansfield became extinct, Eisleben came into the possession of Saxony, and in 1815 of Prussia. The population in 1875 was 14,378.
EISTEDDFOD, Yr (plural Eisteddfodau}, the national bardic congress of Wales, the objects of which are to encourage bardism and music and the general literature of the Welsh, to maintain the Welsh language and customs of the country, and to foster and cultivate a patriotic spirit amongst the people. This institution, so peculiar to Wales, is of very ancient origin.[1] The term Eisteddfod, however, which means " a session " or " sitting," was probably not applied to bardic congresses before the 12th century.
The Eisteddfod in its present character appears to have originated in the time of Owain ap Maxen Wledig, who at the close of the 4th century was elected to the chief sovereignty of the Britons on the departure of the Romans. It was at this time, or soon afterwards, that the laws and usages of the Gorsedd were codified and remodelled, and its motto of " Y gwir yn erbyn y byd " (The truth against the world) given to it. " Chairs " (with which the Eisteddfod as a national institution is now inseparably connected) were also established, or rather perhaps resuscitated about the same time. The chair was a kind of convention where disciples were trained, and bardic matters discussed pre paratory to the great Gorsedd, each chair having a distinc tive motto. There are now existing four chairs in Wales, namely, the " royal " chair of Powys, whose motto is " A laddo a leddir " (He that slayeth shall be slain); that of Gwent and Glamorgan, whose motto is " Duw a phob daioni" (God and all goodness); that of Dyfed, whose motto is " Calon wrth galon," (Heart with heart) ; and that of Gwynedd, or North Wales, whose motto is" lesu," or "0 lesu! na d gamwaith" (Jesus, or Oh Jesus! suffer not iniquity).
The first Eisteddfod of which any account seems to have descended to us was one held on the banks of the Coaiway in the 6th century, under the auspices of Maelgwn Gwy nedd, prince of North Wales. Maelgwn on this occasion, in order to prove the superiority of vocal song over in strumental music, is recorded to have offered a reward to such bards and minstrels as should swim over the Conway. There were several competitors, but on their arrival on the opposite shore, the harpers found themselves unable to play, owing to the injury their harps had sustained from the water, while the bards were in as good tune as ever. King Cadwaladr also presided at an Eisteddfod about the middle of the 7th century.
Griffith ap Cynan, prince of North Wales, who had been born in Ireland, brought with him from that country many Irish musicians, who greatly improved the music of Wales. During his long reign of 56 years he offered great en couragement to bards, harpers, and minstrels, and framed a code of laws for their better regulation. He held an Eisteddfod about the beginning of the 12th century at Caerwys in Flintshire, " to which there repaired all the musicians of Wales, and some also from England and Scot land." For many years afterwards the Eisteddfod appears to have been held triennially, and to have enforced the rigid observance of the enactments of Griffith ap Cynan. The places at which it was generally held were Aberffraw, formerly the royal seat of the princes of North Wales ; Dynevor, the royal castle of the princes of South Wales ; and Mathrafal, the royal palace of the princes of Powys ; and in later times Caerwys in Flintshire received that honourable distinction, it having been the princely resi dence of Llewelyn the Last. Some of these Eisteddfodau were conducted in a style of great magnificence, under the patronage of the native princes. At Christmas 1107, Cadwgan, the son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, prince of Powys, held an Eisteddfod in Cardigan Castle, to which he invited the bards, harpers, and minstrels, " the best to be found in all Wales;" and " he gave them chairs and subjects of emulation according to the custom of the feasts of King Arthur." In 1176 Rhys ab Gruffydd, prince of South Wales, held an Eisteddfod in the same castle on a scale of still greater magnificence, it having been proclaimed, we are told, a year before it took place, " over Wales, Eng land, Scotland, Ireland, and many other countries."
On the annexation of Wales to England, Edward I. deemed it politic to sanction the bardic Eisteddfod by his famous statute of Rlmddlan. In the reign of Edward III. Ifor Hael, a South Wales chieftain, held one at his man sion. Another was held in 1451, with the permission of the king, by Griffith ab Nicholas at Carmarthen, in princely style, where Dafydd ab Edmund, an eminent poet, sig nalized himself by his wonderful powers of versification in the Welsh metres, and whence " he carried home on his shoulders the silver chair" which he had fairly won. Several Eisteddfodau were held, one at least by royal mandate, in the reign of Henry VII. In 1523 one was held at Caer wys before the chamberlain of North Wales and others, by virtue of a commission issued by Henry VI I L In the course of time, through relaxation of bardic discipline, the profession was assumed by unqualified persons, to the great detriment of the regular bards. Accordingly in 1567 Queen Elizabeth issued a commission for holding an Eis teddfod at Caerwys in the following year, which was duly held, when degrees were conferred on 55 candidates, includ ing 20 harpers. From the terms of the royal proclamation we find that it was then customary to bestow " a silver harp " on the chief of the faculty of musicians, as it had been usual to reward the chief bard with " a silver chair." This was the last Eisteddfod appointed by ruyal commis sion, but several others of some importance were held during the 16th and 17th centuries, under the patronage of the earl of Pembroke, Sir Richard Neville, and other influential persons. Amongst these the last of any parti cular note was one held in Bewper Castle, Glamorgan, by Sir Richard Basset in 1681.
at its lowest ebb, and no general Eisteddfod on a large
scale appears to have been held until 1819, though several
- ↑ According to the Welsh Triads and other historical records, tha Gorsedd or assembly (an essential part of the modern Eisteddfod, from which indeed the latter sprung) is as old at least as the time of Prydain the son of Aedd the Great, who lived many centuries before the Christian era. Upon the destruction of the political ascendency of the Druids, the Gorsedd lost its political importance, though it seems to have long afterwards retained its institutional character as the medium for preserving the laws, doctrines, and traditions of bardism.
