CELTIC

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

Overview

This course will provide an inter-disciplinary study of the Celtic-speaking peoples from prehistory to the early Middle Ages. We will explore the origins and spread of Celtic language and culture, the subsequent marginalisation of the Celts in Roman literature; pre-historic archaeology; pagan beliefs; conversion to Christianity; the role of women; heroic literature; the cult of warriors; and finally, popular representations of the Celts in modern literature and thought.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment - one essay (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

The above assessments are given CAS marks and written feedback is relayed to students using the School of Language and Literature essay cover sheets. Students have an opportunity to discuss feedback with their tutor through planned meetings or during their tutor's office hours.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course will provide an overview of Celtic Scotland in the early and central Middle Ages (AD 400-c1200). The history and culture of early inhabitants of Scotland, the Picts, Gaels, and Britons, will be explored through a range of topics. These include political and social identity, kingship, religion, art, archaeology and foreign relations. A key theme within the course will be the emergence and development of the Scottish nation over the centuries.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%) and continuous assessment - one essay (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

The above assessments are given CAS marks and written feedback is relayed to students using the School of Language and Literature essay cover sheets. Students have an opportunity to discuss feedback with their tutor through planned meetings or during their tutor's office hours.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Topics include the nature of Viking-settlement, Gaelic-Scandinavian interaction, the impact of Vikings on the formation of the kingdom of Alba, and the external links of North Britain in the Viking Age. A weekly lecture will provide an overview of the history, culture and literature of the Vikings in Scotland; in the weekly tutorial students will discuss individual themes and sources in more detail.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); essay of 2,000-2,500 words, including references but excluding bibliography (30%); tutorial participation (10%).

1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided via comments on assessments. Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course provides a survey of literature on Arthur in the Middle Ages, focusing on Welsh and Gaelic sources and Continental romance; it includes discussion of broader themes and questions posed by the literature, eg. whether Athur was a real person and why legends about him have elevated him to iconic status, even to the present day.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); essay of 2,000-2,500 words, including references but excluding bibliography (30%); tutorial participation (10%).

1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided via comments on assessments. Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

None, although some knowledge of Irish might be an advantage.

Overview

Detailed discussion of topics including the history of Gaelic Ireland from the eighteenth century onwards; and the aims and achievements of all genres of literature in modern Irish, eg. vision-poems and prose diaries. The course will also cover the major twentieth-century poets and their motivations, eg. self-discovery, urban/rural tension and commentary on political and social aspects of their own day.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); essay of 2,000-2,500 words, including references but excluding bibliography (30%); tutorial participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided via comments on assessments. Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course provides a survey of Greek and Roman perceptions of Celtic peoples. It also includes discussion of broader themes and questions posed by the sources, eg. invention of the barbarian and the role of iconography.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); essay of 2,000-2,500 words, including references but excluding bibliography (30%); tutorial participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided via comments on assessments. Discussion of students' progress in writing and participation skills will be provided in individual meetings.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4063: Introduction to Old Gaelic IB.

Co-requisites

A basic knowledge of Gaelic, Welsh, Latin or Historical Linguistics.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course provides a basic introduction to Old Irish - the earliest form of a Celtic language which we can reconstruct with some certainty. Old Irish holds the key to the earliest vernacular literature north of the Alps. It is also of prime importance to comparative Celtic Philology, as it is the earliest attested form of both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The course consists of an exposition of Old Irish grammar accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages in Old Irish.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Language Exercises (40%), and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 3 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4074: Brittonic Language IB.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of the grammar of a Brittonic language accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Translation Exercises (40%) which have to be done every week, and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4083: Religion and the Celts to AD 1200B. This course will be available in
2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course will begin with a study of the pre-Christian religion of the Celts; how it was described by classical authors, and how this squares with the archaeological evidence. We will also explore portrayals of the pagan past in Celtic medieval literature, including druids and mythological characters. The course will then move forwards chronologically to an evolution of the processes of Christian conversion and to an analysis of the ideological and institutional changes it involved. Evidence for the continuity of pagan practices will be explored. We will look at the struggle to define and practise spiritual purity, definitions of and attitudes to heresy, artistic and literary achievements of the Church, and the development of saints' cults. The course will end with an analysis of the reforms of the twelfth century, evaluating the response of Celtic-speaking peoples to the ecclesiastically-inspired drive for uniformity in social and religious practices throughout Western Christendom.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial, and 1 one-hour seminar, per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), one 2,000 word essay (30%), and seminar assessment mark (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R O'Connor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4086: Tales of Vengeance and Enchantment: Medieval Sagas B.

Overview

The course will study the narrative prose literature which was written in mediaeval Ireland between c.700 and 1200, and which draw on oral and literary traditions from the wider Gaelic-speaking world and beyond. It will explore narratives ranging from 'heroic' tales of cattle-raids and elopements to stories about Otherworld beings and voyages into the western ocean. The tales will be analysed (in translation) from literary and historical perspectives. The course falls into two halves. Weeks 1-5 will explore the kinds of stories these sagas tells and outline key themes in their 'narrative world'. Weeks 6-12 turn to the questions of how, when and why this literature was produced, and how we can best appreciate it. Topics covered will include kingship, heroism, women, the Otherworld, Christianity and paganism, orality and literacy, genre, foreign influences and scribal culture.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), assessed 2,000 word essay (30%) and seminar participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R O'Connor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4575 'Celtic Myth in the Modern World: From Ossian to the New Age (B)'.

Overview

This course examines how and why stories and images of a mythical Celtic past came to haunt the modern Western imagination, focusing in particular on Anglophone Britain and Ireland since c. 1760. The Celtic cultures in which these stories were originally produced suffered disastrous political setbacks in the early modern period; but these stories soon attracted much learned and popular interest outside the Celtic-speaking world. Here, sometimes transformed beyond recognition, they have served new purposes: literary, social, religious, political and musical. We will trace these metamorphoses by examining the forms and functions of Celtic legendary narrative in (for example) Romantic literature, art and music; Scottish and Irish national revival movements; twentieth century Anglophone literature; and the New Age movement. Alongside these transformations of myth and legend, the course will critically examine the evolving concept of 'the Celt' in cultural and racial discourse from the Enlightenment to the present day, and how it colours our perceptions of Celtic-speaking cultures past and present.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), one 2,000 word essay (30%), and seminar participation (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4563: Introduction to Old Gaelic IIB.

Successful completion of CE 3063 Old Gaelic IA.

Notes

This course will be available in 2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of Old Irish grammar accompanied by the translation and grammatical interpretation of selected passages in Old Irish.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Language exercises (40%), and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 3 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4574 Brittonic Language 11B.

Co-requisites

Successful completion of Brittonic Language 1A.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of the grammar of a Brittonic language accompanied by reading, translation exercise and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Translation Exercises (40%) which have to be done every week, and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 4586: Magic and the Supernatural B.

Overview

The course will begin by exploring the tensions between church doctrines and popular beliefs in medieval society. The significance of magic and the supernatural for different ranks of society will be examined from kings through to vagrants. The links between magic, verbal arts, crafts and science will be explored, as will the medieval understanding of boundaries between the natural and supernatural. This course will shed light aspects of medieval culture which have receive little attention in conventional textbooks, but which provide an important insight into the mental landscape of Celtic-speaking people during the Middle Ages.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial, and 1 one-hour seminar, per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%) and 1 essay (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3063: Introduction to Old Gaelic IA.

Co-requisites

A basic knowledge of Gaelic, Welsh, Latin or Historical Linguistics.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course provides a basic introduction to Old Irish - the earliest form of a Celtic language which we can reconstruct with some certainty. Old Irish holds the key to the earliest vernacular literature north of the Alps. It is also of prime importance to comparative Celtic Philology, as it is the earliest attested form of both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The course consists of an exposition of Old Irish grammar accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages in Old Irish. The course will also take some account of the similarities and differences between Old Irish and the other Insular Celtic languages.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Languages Exercises (40%), and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 4 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3074 Brittonic Language IA.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of the grammar of a Brittonic language accompanied by appropriate translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Translation Exercises (40%) which have to be done every week, and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3083: Religion and the Celts to AD 1200A. This course will be available in 2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course will begin with a study of the pre-Christian religion of the Celts; how it was described by classical authors, and how this squares with the archaeological evidence. We will also explore portrayals of the pagan past in Celtic medieval literature including druids mythological characters. The course will then move forward chronologically to an evaluation of the processes of Christian conversion and to an analysis of the ideological and institutional changes it involved. Evidence for the continuity of pagan practices will be explored. We will look at the struggle to define and practise spiritual purity, definitions of and attitudes to heresy, artistic and literary achievements of the Church, and the development of saints' cults. The course will end with an analysis of the reforms of the twelfth century, evaluating the response of Celtic-speaking peoples to the ecclesiastically-inspired drive for uniformity in social and religious practices throughout Western Christendom.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial, and 1 one-hour seminar, per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), one 2,000 word essay (30%), and seminar assessment mark (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R O'Connor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3086: Tales of Vengeance and Enchantment: Medieval Irish Sagas A.

Overview

The course will study the narrative prose literature which was written in mediaeval Ireland between c.700 and 1200, and which drew on oral and literary traditions from the wider Gaelic-speaking world and beyond. It will explore narratives ranging from 'heroic' tales of cattle-raids and elopements to stories about Otherworld beings and voyages into the western ocean. The tales will be analysed (in translation) from literary and historical perspectives. The course falls into two halves. Weeks 1-5 will explore the kinds of stories these sagas tell and outline key themes in their 'narrative world'. Weeks 6-12 turn to the questions of how, when and why this literature was produced, and how we can best appreciate it. Topics covered will include kingship, heroism, women, the Otherworld, Christianity and paganism, orality and literacy, genre, foreign influence and scribal culture.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), assessed 2,500 word essay (30%), and seminar participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R O'Connor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3575 'Celtic Myth in the Modern World: From Ossian to the New Age (A)'.

Notes

This course will be available in 2012/13 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

This course examines how and why stories and images of a mythical Celtic past came to haunt the modern Western imagination, focusing in particular on Anglophone Britain and Ireland since c. 1760. The Celtic cultures in which these stories were originally produced suffered disastrous political setbacks in the early modern period; but these stories soon attracted much learned and popular interest outside the Celtic-speaking world. Here, sometimes transformed beyond recognition, they have served new purposes: literary, social, religious, political and musical. We will trace these metamorphoses by examining the forms and functions of Celtic legendary narrative in (for example) Romantic literature, art and music; Scottish and Irish national revival movements; twentieth century Anglophone literature; and the New Age movement. Alongside these transformations of myth and legend, the course will critically examine the evolving concept of 'the Celt' in cultural and racial discourse from the Enlightenment to the present day, and how it colours our perceptions of Celtic-speaking cultures past and present.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%), one 2,000 word essay (30%), and seminar participation (10%).

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

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Watson

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours Celtic Studies Students.

Overview

3 one-hour tutorials which will provide students with guidance on selecting a suitable academic topic and developing a methodology for tackling this topic.

Structure

3 one-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 10,000 word dissertation (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Watson

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours Celtic Civilisation Students.

Overview

3 one-hour tutorials which will provide students with guidance on selecting a suitable academic topic and developing a methodology for tackling this topic.

Structure

3 one-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 10,000 word dissertation (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3563: Introduction to Old Gaelic IIA.

Successful completion of CE 4063 Old Gaelic IIA.

Notes

This course will be available in session 2010/11 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of Old Irish grammar accompanied by the translation and grammatical interpretation of selected passages in Old Irish. The course will also take some account of the similarities and differences between Old Irish and the other Insular Celtic languages.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Language exercises (40%), and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A O'Leary

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School. Cannot be taken as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3574: Brittonic Language IIA.

Co-requisites

Successful completion of Brittonic Language IB.

Overview

The course consists of an exposition of the grammar of a Brittonic language accompanied by reading, translation exercises and grammatical interpretation of selected passages of text.

Structure

Three hours of classes per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Translation Exercises (40%) which have to be done every week, and 1 two-hour written examination (60%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with CE 3586: Magic and the Supernatural A.

Overview

This course will shed light aspects of medieval culture which have receive little attention in conventional textbooks, but which provide an important insight into the mental landscape of Celtic-speaking people during the Middle Ages.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial, and 1 one-hour seminar, per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 two-hour examination (60%) and 1 essay (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%).