Celtic

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5.

Overview

A series of five seminars, each focusing on a particular work by a member of staff in Celtic or related disciplines. In each seminar the author will explain the way in which the work was developed, the theoretical and methodological techniques applied, the kinds of sources used, and its relationship to more general interpretative traditions. The students will then discuss the piece as a group, having read the essay or chapter in advance. The seminars will therefore provide an insight into scholarly methods and research debates.

Structure

5 two-hour seminars to be held fortnightly during the first semester

Assessment

In course assessment; one essay 3,500 words (90%), seminar presentation (10%)

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

One class per week will focus on written exercises, one class per week will focus on reading and translation of text, one class per week will focus on grammar.

Structure

Three one-hour classes per week

Assessment

Two-hour examination (60%), 2 language exercises (10% each), and 2 in-class tests (10% each).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to registered postgraduate students

Overview

Students will acquire an understanding of Old-Gaelic grammar and vocabulary. There will be two one-hour language-classes per week: one grammar-class and one reading class.

Structure

3 one-hour classes per week.

Assessment

Two-hour examination (60%), 2 language exercises (10% each), and 2 in-class tests (10% each).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to registered postgraduate students

Notes

Overview

This is an intensive language course for students who have little or no previous knowledge of Gaelic. It concentrates on the acquisition of basic grammar and vocabulary, and on the development of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.

Structure

Four one-hour classes per week.

Assessment

A two-hour examination (40%), an essay of approx. 2,000-2,500 words on aspect(s) of the Gaelic language, e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax or comparative philology (20%), 4 language exercises (5% each), and oral assessment (20%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof Ralph O'Connor

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

Mediaeval Irish and Icelandic sagas represent the largest and most varied, and certainly the most entertaining, body of vernacular prose narrative in existence in early mediaeval Europe. Although not widely known beyond their countries of origin, they contain some of the North's most distinctive and impressive contributions to world literature. Drawing on common oral and literary traditions from the North Atlantic cultural zone, these tales dramatize the legendary past by populating it with larger-than-life heroes whose deeds and misdeeds were felt to define the meaning of that past for mediaeval audiences. These two bodies of northern literature are usually studied in isolation, but this course will place them side by side. It will explore narratives ranging from heroic tales of cattle-raids and bloodfeuds to stories about the living dead and quests to the otherworlds of the Western and Arctic oceans. The tales will be analysed (in translation) from literary and historical perspectives. The course falls into two halves. It will first explore the kinds of stories these sagas tell and similarities and differences between their 'narrative worlds'. It will then turn to the questions of how, when and why this literature was produced, and how we can best appreciate it, especially in regard to what kinds of 'heroes' its protagonists are.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture followed by 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

One essay of approx. 4,500 words, including references, but excluding bibliography.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof David Dumville

Pre-requisites

Available only to registered postgraduate students.

Overview

A rich legal literature, at once ecclesiastical and secular, descriptive and prescriptive, has survived from both England and the Celtic-speaking countries from the late sixth/early seventh century to the twelfth. Almost by definition, this literature deals with almost every aspect of earlier mediaeval society. It is complemented by narrative and poetic literature which dwells, both by precept and by providing exemplars, on the ideal and the undesirable aspects of human nature and society. This course is devoted both to legal thought and to law operative in society, in both Celtic-speaking and English-speaking countries.

Structure

One one-hour lecture, one one-hour sources class, and one one-hour seminar per week; independent study on Celtic material.

Assessment

A final paper of approx. 4,000 words, including references but excluding bibliography (100%), and a formative essay of approx. 1,000 words.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Prof David Dumville

Pre-requisites

Available only to registered postgraduate students.

Overview

At the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages, Celtic and Germanic kingship had a perhaps superficial structural similarity. Germanic kingship had shallow roots, however. Celtic kingship, on the other hand, enjoyed a very long history and solidly established foundations. The post-colonial situation in Britain (and more generally in western Europe at large) brought great change. Christianity offered new (Jewish and Roman) methods of rulership. For the Gaelic world, on the other hand, in conjunction with a largely peaceful receipt of Christianity, continuity is the watchword. Both practice and theory of kingship in a changing world are abundantly attested in a rich variety of sources, documentary, linguistic, literary, and material: full advantage will be taken of these resources, with close attention given to the intercultural and interdisciplinary study of primary sources.

Structure

One one-hour lecture, one one-hour sources class, and one one-hour seminar per week; independent study on Celtic material.

Assessment

A final paper of approx. 4,000 words, including references but excluding bibliography (100%), and a formative essay of approx. 1,000 words.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Some prior knowledge of a Modern Celtic Language is assumed

Overview

The course will be based on a close study of extracts from authentic texts. It will consider the spelling problems these texts present. It will also make a systematic study of the morphological and syntactic structures displayed in the texts, and any general lexical problems they embody. Each week there will be exercises designed to reinforce students' understanding, mostly involving translation into English. The course will focus on Medieval Welsh, Irish or Scots Gaelic according to student demand.

Structure

3 one-hour classes per week.

Assessment

Two-hour examination (60%), 2 language exercises (10% each), and 2 in-class tests (10% each).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

CE5014 Reading Celtic 1

Overview

One class per week will focus on written exercises, one class per week will focus on reading and translation of text, one class per week will focus on grammar.

Structure

Three one-hour classes per week

Assessment

Two-hour examination (60%), 2 language exercises (10% each), and 2 in-class tests (10% each).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Overview

The course consists of one-to -one supervision with the member of staff best equipped to advise the student on her/his dissertation topic. It will involve detailed and critical discussion of primary and secondary materials suited to the research interests of the student (as developed over the preceding semester) with the aim of providing the student with the fullest preparation for researching and writing the dissertation in the summer.

Structure

6 one-hour long supervisions (one to be held each fortnight).

Assessment

Essay of approximately 1,500 words (10%); annotated bibliography (90%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor David Dumville

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5.
Some knowledge of Old, Middle, or early Modern Gaelic required.

Overview

- Gaelic-Script history, A.D. 600-1700: recognition and discrimination
- The development of the Insular and Gaelic abbreviation-system
- Scribal activity in Gaeldom
- Patronage of manuscript-production

Structure

3 one-hour classes per week.

Assessment

A three-hour practical examination, including (1) transmission from manuscript-facsimiles, and (2) commentary on script, abbreviations, and layout (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

CE5015 (Mediaeval Gaelic Language, I)

Overview

This course will deepen students’ knowledge of the fundamentals of Old-Gaelic grammar and vocabulary. They will learn about the changes in the language in the transition to and during the Middle-Gaelic period and start to read Middle-Gaelic texts.
There will be three one-hour language-classes per week: one grammar-class, one Old-Gaelic reading class, and one Middle-Gaelic reading class.

Structure

Three one-hour language-classes per week.

Assessment

Two-hour examination (60%), 2 language exercises (10% each), and 2 in-class tests (10% each).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Aideen O'Leary

Pre-requisites

CE5016, Scottish Gaelic for Postgraduates (A)

Overview

This course builds on the foundation laid in CE5009, Scottish Gaelic for Postgraduates (A), and concentrates on the acquisition of further basic grammar and vocabulary, and on the development of more advanced reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills

Structure

four one-hour classes per week.

Assessment

A two-hour examination (40%), an essay of approx. 2,000-2,500 words on aspect(s) of the Gaelic language, e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax or comparative philology (20%), 4 language exercises (5% each), and oral assessment (20%).

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr Clare Downham

Pre-requisites

Available only to MLitt students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

Celtic Dissertation Preparation: Sources and Source Criticism

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

4 one-hour supervisions.

Assessment

15,000 word Dissertation (100%)