The Bards of Wales’ is a poem that can be recited off by heart by many Hungarians, but in Wales little is known of this poem, written by Janos Arany in 1857. Just a few days ago marked his two-hundredth anniversary of his birthday. After refusing to write a poem celebrating the emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, following a failed revolution in 1848 against the empire, Janos wrote ‘The Bards of Wales’, which recounts a legendary story of rebellion at which 500 Welsh poets were slaughtered by King Henry I at Montgomery castle after they refused to sing his praises as their conqueror.

While Arany’s nineteenth-century poem is still taught in schools in Hungary, many living in Montgomeryshire and across Wales have never heard of it. So, I’m pleased to spread the word today. Last Thursday, a special televised celebration of his life—the life of Janos Arany—was held in Budapest, attended by the Hungarian President, at which Arany was presented with a posthumous honorary status of ‘Freeman of Montgomery’ by the mayor of the town.