Do Bards Really “Suck”?

I know that bards in Roleplaying games take a huge hit to the balls by many. There have been several posts over the past year in the OSR blogosphere that have amused me as they poked fun at the bard class. Let's admit it, sometimes bards are ridiculous, especially as they are portrayed. I think it is OK to not like the bard class or those that resemble them. Who wants an annoying singing minstrel bothering them? Certainly Sir Robin didn't in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie!

The only cool “Bard” that most people know about was not a singing fool, but Bard the guard in Tolkien's The Hobbit. However, in some cases and in some circumstances, do bards really suck?

I say: “NAY!”

In the Middle English epic poem Sir Orfeo (based loosely on the tale of Orpheus), a king is so taken by the music of minstrels that he decided to take on their craft. The poem is written as a tale that could be told, set to music, by those in the real world that were the basis of the bard class in AD&D. I will post the very beginning of the poem to set the tone:
   

        We often find it written,
        And scholars know of this well,
        Verses that are set to music
        The content of which are marvelous things:
        Some concern war and some concern woe
        Some concern joy and mirth also,
        And some concern treachery and guile
        Of old adventures once upon a time,
        Some concern jokes and ribaldry
        And many are set in the lands of fairies.
        Of all things that men relate,
        Most of them, in truth, concern love.
        In Brittany were these songs first wrought,
        Set to music and then forth brought.
        They concern adventures set in the olden days
        Whereof ancient Bretons made their lays.
        Kings, at times, might hear a tale
        Concerning marvelous things,
        Then take up the harp and minstrelsy
        And write a lay and give it a name.
        Of these adventures that have taken place, 
        I can tell you some but not all.
        Now listen, lords and ladies true,
        I shall tell you the tale of `Sir Orfeo.'

        More than anything in this world
        Orfeo loved the joy of music.
        Such was it that every good mistral
        Paid much homage to Sir Orfeo.
        Orfeo set his keen, sharp wits
        Upon teaching himself to play the harp.
        He taught himself so well that no one could find
        A better mistral than Sir Orfeo.

Here we find a King, the one that Bards desire to come and play before, becoming a minstrel himself!
Not only does the Bard-King play well, he is described thusly:

        Orfeo was a king
        Of England and help high honor;
        He was a man both brave and strong
        And also elegant and generous.

Obviously, Orfeo is a brave and chivalrous warrior, a refined gentleman and of noble character – everything a Bard might wish to be! This is no Medieval Hippie strumming silly tunes... Orfeo is someone to be reckoned with.

In the tale, Sir Orfeo uses skills and wit that would be considered common fair for Bards to single-handedly rescue his wife from another Lord who kidnaps her. After questing in search of his wife, Sir Orfeo comes as a minstrel to the offending lord's castle, which he has finally discovered. Because Orfeo impresses him with his entertainment, he is granted a anything he wishes. Orfeo asks for his kidnapped wife and even though the lord protests, he must keep his word. Orfeo could have battled the Faerie lord - he was certainly capable of doing so, but his wit won out! The Bard-King returns home "and there was much rejoicing” ;)

Peter the Hermit exhorting the faithful to take up the cause of the First Crusade

Monks who were also Poets, which might be considered Bards, were instrumental in creating works so magnificent that they were added to the abbey's liturgy. They wrote in praise of the nobility, who gave to the monastery generously in return. They made social commentary (some of which might even be considered subversive) through their prosody. Orations from ascetic, traveling monks like Peter the Hermit did much in stirring the people's faith to join in the First Crusade. The influence of those skilled in poetry, song and oration in the Middle Ages is nothing to be sneezed at – they had tangible effects in the world.... I haven't even mentioned the Viking Skald (saving for a later post!)

As I said earlier, it is OK if you think D&D bards suck... but perhaps you think they suck because many do not play them as they were in the actual Middle Ages. In my own Sylvaeon campaign, they function much more like the bards of history.

                After that harpers in Brittany
Heard how this marvelous tale

        And made a lay of great delight
        And named it after the king.
        That lay is called `Orfeo';
        And it is a good song, sweet in its notes.
        Thus was Orfeo delivered from his cares:
        May God grant us all so well to fare! Amen!