The royal form of bardic tradition ceased in the 13th century, when the 1282 Edwardian conquest permanently ended the rule of the Welsh princes. The legendary suicide of The Last Bard (c. 1283), was commemorated in the poem The Bards of Wales by the Hungarian poet János Arany in 1857, as a way of encoded resistance to the suppressive politics of his own time. However, the poetic and musical traditions were continued throughout the Middle Ages, e.g., by noted 14th-century poets Dafydd ap Gwilym and Iolo Goch. Also the tradition of regularly assembling bards at an eisteddfod never lapsed and was strengthened by formation of the Gorsedd by Iolo Morganwg in 1792.
Wales in the twentieth century is a leading Celtic upholder of the bardic tradition. The annual National Eisteddfod of Wales (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru) (which was first held in 1880) is held in which bards are chaired (see Category:Chaired bards) and crowned (see Category:Crowned bards). The Urdd National Eisteddfod is also held annually. And many schools hold their own annual eisteddfodau which emulate bardic traditions.
In 2023 Google released its AI chatbot Bard.