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What was the purpose of an eisteddfod in the medieval Welsh bardic system?

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An overview of the Irish language — Celtic literature Britannica editor Jeff Wallenfeldt provides an overview of the Irish language.

In the medieval Welsh bardic system, an eisteddfod served as a formal assembly of poets and musicians. Its primary purposes were to evaluate the proficiency of bards and to confer official certificates of rank upon them.12

By grading bards according to their skill, these assemblies helped maintain the structure of the bardic order and prevented lower-ranking poets from proliferating or drifting into mendicancy. These gatherings also functioned as competitions, which fostered the development of new musical, literary, and oratorical forms. For example, the assembly held at Carmarthen around 1451 is noted for establishing authoritative standards for the strict meters of Welsh poetry. Ultimately, this system of regulation and competition contributed to a high degree of conservatism in Welsh literature, as bards adhered to established conventions of diction, grammar, and idiom.21