ANGLO-SAXON, NORSE, & CELTIC

The Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic Tripos is concerned with the history, culture,

languages and literatures of the different peoples who inhabited Britain, Ireland and the

extended Scandinavian world in the early Middle Ages (5th–12th centuries). It is unique,

in the sense that it offers a distinctive combination of subjects, not available elsewhere.

Students have the opportunity to become proficient in areas of study which in most cases

they will not have explored before, and to appreciate how they are best understood in

relation to each other. The study of languages leads to the full appreciation of the

corresponding literatures; and, in the history papers, emphasis is placed on the study of the

primary sources and on the integration of information derived from all forms of evidence.

Students may choose to focus their attention on languages and literature, or on history and

material culture; but most of them will mix and match. All of them find a range of options

which suits their own interests, and which will allow them to develop their own skills.

Students make their selection of subjects from among the following options

Language and literature History and culture • Old English • England before the Norman Conquest

• Old Norse • Scandinavian history in the Viking Age

• Insular Latin • Palaeography (manuscript studies) • Medieval Welsh • History of the Brittonic-speaking peoples

• Medieval Irish • History of the Gaelic-speaking peoples

For Part I of the ASNC Tripos (the first two years), students choose six options (or five

plus a dissertation). For Part II (third year), students choose four options from advanced

papers in the same range of subjects, plus a dissertation. The range of options is increased

by papers ‘borrowed’ from other Triposes; full details are on the ASNC website.

The one-year Masters degree (MPhil) in ASNC involves some training in research, and a

15,000-word dissertation; and it can lead on to a three-year doctorate (PhD), involving

further independent study, and the preparation of an 80,000-word dissertation.

The Department of ASNC is one of the

smallest units in the University, which

helps, of course, to give it its distinctive

sense of identity. There is an intake of

about 25 new students each year, and an

overall undergraduate population of about

75 students. There are about 30 graduate

students (MPhil and PhD) at any time, and

two or three research officers. There are

eight members of the teaching staff, each

primarily responsible for a particular

subject-area. The Department is admin-

istered by the Departmental Secretary, as a

part of the Faculty of English.

The Department of ASNC is located on the second floor of the

Faculty of English building, 9 West Road, Cambridge.

Students reading the ASNC Tripos at Cambridge come from all manner of different

backgrounds, and make many of their friends among fellow-members of their own

college, reading a wide variety of different subjects. They find themselves at the same

time in a Department which is widely renowned as a centre of international importance in

its field. They are taught by lecturers who are at the forefront of current research, and they

have access to resources beyond compare, in the Departmental Library, in the University

Library, and in the Fitzwilliam Museum, as well as in their own colleges. Above all, they

find themselves in a small and friendly Department, mixing with their highly-motivated

fellow students, and enjoying a course of study which they will find at times surprising,

frustrating, or entertaining, but always challenging and deeply rewarding. Alumni look

back on ASNC as one of the formative experiences of their lives.

The Common Room in the Department of ASNC, used for

seminars, meetings, and weekly student lunches. It opens out

onto a terrace above the Faculty library.

A degree in ASNC can lead to any one (or

more) of a wide variety of careers. As in other

degrees in the arts and humanities (such as

English, History, Classics, and Modern and

Medieval Languages), the course of study

enables students to pursue their individual

interests, and at the same time to develop their

intellectual and organisational skills. Some of

our students will move on to further research

and a career in academe; but most will turn

their skills to effective use in careers such as

education, publishing, heritage, media, law,

management, finance, and government.

For further details of the ASNC Tripos, and the Department of ASNC, visit our website

www.asnc.cam.ac.uk

ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST

This course of study begins with the departure of the Romans from Britain in the early

fifth century, and extends to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

The themes which give shape to the unfolding course of events during this period will

serve to convey an idea of the kind of subjects which are considered in some detail: the

impact of the Germanic settlements on sub-Roman Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries,

and the emergence of the major ‘Anglo-Saxon’ kingdoms (East Anglia, Kent, Wessex,

Sussex, Essex, Mercia, and Northumbria); the conversion to Christianity in the seventh

century, and the contrast between Bede’s view of the English peoples during this period

and the more complex reality; the ‘supremacy’ of the Mercian kings in the eighth century,

and its significance, or otherwise, in the process which led to the unification of England;

the impact of the viking invasions, in the ninth century, on English culture and society,

and on the balance of power between surviving English kingdoms (notably Mercia and

Wessex); the further developments in the tenth century, including the monastic reform

movement, and the emergence of a unified kingdom of the English in the 960s; the viking

invasions in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, leading to the Danish conquest in

1016; and the further political complications which led to the Norman Conquest.

All due attention is given, of course, to the role in these events of kings such as Offa,

Alfred the Great, Æthelstan, Edgar, and Æthelred the Unready, and also to the role of

bishops, abbots, ealdormen, and other leading man. One soon learns, however, that there

is much more to the subject than one might think.

The historian of England before the Norman Conquest learns how to deal with a

variety of literary, documentary, and material evidence. The major ‘literary’ sources are

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, and the various

versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, first ‘published’ in the early 890s, with later

continuations. We also deal with charters, law-codes, and coins, as well as burials,

churches, towns, artefacts, manuscripts, and place-names.

Modern understanding of this period of history originated in Sir Frank Stenton’s book

Anglo-Saxon England, first published in 1943; but the subject has moved on a long way in

the past sixty years, and shows no sign of settling down to agreed limits. Attitudes to

‘literary’ sources have changed, so that little is now taken at face value; and this

development, in conjunction with other advances in the understanding of the available

evidence, has led to the questioning of much that had previously been taken for granted.

The proliferation of electronic resources has opened up new possibilities, in teaching as

well as research; yet new discoveries, such as the ‘Watlington Hoard’ (2015) or the

‘Staffordshire Hoard’ (2009), still have the power to turn much on its head.

The paper on the history of England before the Norman Conquest naturally combines well

with the other historical papers, and with the papers on Insular Latin and Old English.

One should know about the Scandinavian peoples in their homelands, if one is to

understand the Viking invasions of England; and if one is to understand the impact of

Christianity on English society, it helps to have read Beowulf.

Teaching for the paper is provided by the usual combination of lectures and super-

visions, supplemented by guided reading and private study. Students are also encouraged

to visit the British Museum and the British Library, where much of primary importance is

always on display. They are also encouraged to visit any Anglo-Saxon sites, or churches,

in their neighbourhood; and once in Cambridge they organise excursions to places of

interest.

SCANDINAVIAN HISTORY IN THE VIKING AGE

This course is devoted to the history of the Norse-speaking peoples of Scandinavia during

the Viking Age, from the beginning of the eighth century to the end of the eleventh. It

spans the slow transition from the murk of prehistory, in which archaeology is our only

guide, through the Viking Age itself, when foreign authors began to take an interest in

their northern neighbours, to the dawn of the Scandinavian Middle Ages when native

writers started to produce their own records and histories. The focus of attention lies in the

processes of change that redefined life in the Scandinavian homelands during these

centuries. The exploits of the raiders who terrorized the British Isles and much of western

and eastern Europe at this time are notorious, of course, but they represent only one strand

in the complex history of the Scandinavian peoples in the period. Only by studying the

forces at work in Scandinavia itself can we hope to make sense of the Vikings and their

impact on the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon peoples of the British Isles, and further afield.

The activities of the Scandinavian warriors, merchants and settlers who sought their

livelihood overseas during the Viking Age arose from and perpetuated the great

transformations that were taking place in their homelands. Thriving commercial emporia

appeared as trade flourished; kings struggled to enlarge their realms and break the power

of local chieftains; and Christianity made itself felt, first as one foreign influence among

many, later as a political tool of the mighty, and finally as a part of everyday life. Against

this background, the course tracks the emergence of the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway,

and Sweden. It also examines the history of Scandinavian cultural expansion, westwards

across the North Atlantic to the colonies of Iceland and Greenland, and eastwards over the

Baltic and along the great rivers of Russia and the Ukraine, following the lure of trade.

The historian of Viking Age Scandinavia has to master a great range of sources, each one

of which may answer certain questions, but inevitably generates new ones. Before the

coming of Christianity, the Scandinavians were literate only in the use of runic letters to

carve terse inscriptions on stone and wood. We therefore rely on a combination of

contemporary records composed outside Scandinavia, often by those who had reason to

fear the Vikings, and native sources, such as the Icelandic sagas, that were written down

long after the Viking Age. While these texts contain much of interest, all must be treated

with reserve. As a result, other sources of evidence such as archaeology, numismatics, and

place-names play a very important role. These alternative sources enable us to tackle

questions that written sources often fail to address: excavations of burials and settlement

sites can tell us about social conditions, commerce and religious beliefs; coins can tell us

about the exercise of kingship; place-names can identify centres of power and pagan cults.

Tackling these various kinds of evidence in combination helps the student develop

sophisticated skills in source criticism and analysis. All written materials are studied

through English translation, and no knowledge of any other language is either required or

assumed; but students wishing to gain special insights into the source texts by examining

them in their original languages—primarily Latin and Old Norse, but also Old English,

Old Irish, Byzantine Greek, medieval Russian and Arabic—are encouraged to do so.

This is an important time for Viking studies. New discoveries and approaches in old fields

such as archaeology, Old Norse skaldic poetry, and runology, and in newer ones such as

climatology and genetics, continue to extend and reshape our knowledge. Much remains

to be done, and there is much to learn, for novice and expert alike.

HISTORY OF THE BRITTONIC-SPEAKING PEOPLES

This course investigates the history of Wales, the northern British kingdoms, the Picts,

Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man from the decline of Roman imperial control to the

twelfth century. These diverse territories sustained speakers of Brittonic languages.

The period covered by the course has long inspired painters and poets, who have crafted a

romantic image of the ‘Arthurian’ world. However, the political, social and economic

developments that occurred amongst the Brittonic-speaking peoples are equally

compelling. On the one hand, the mysteries of the Picts remain to be unravelled from the

symbol stones that were erected in their territories, on the other hand, a wealth of

information is available about relations between Welsh rulers and Anglo-Norman settlers

during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Indeed, Anglo-Norman influence on Wales and Scotland is a key theme of the course, but

the interactions of the Brittonic-speaking peoples with other external territories are also

investigated. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia and the border regions of Wales

had a volatile relationship, which sometimes spilled over into warfare. A crucial

development in the emergence of Scotland as we know it today was the coalescence of the

Pictish and Dalriadan kingdoms. Internal developments also command attention. The

flourishing of Christian institutions and their personnel are well-attested, as is the

emergence of extensive kingdoms and hegemonies.

By pursuing this subject, students have the chance to develop a range of historical

techniques. They delve into texts of a mythical and pseudo-historical nature, as well as

considering the more typical range of sources for the period. These consist of annals, or

chronicles, such as the Annales Cambriae. A number of later medieval legal works also

survive, which ascribe their material to Hywel Dda, a tenth-century Welsh king. A diverse

range of archaeological material bears consideration. For example, several sites in Wales

and south-western England have yielded remains of the elite culture of sub- and post-

Roman times. The castles for which Wales is so famous began to be constructed in the

eleventh and twelfth centuries; these structures reveal much about military, economic and

political developments.

Students who pursue the ‘history of the Brittonic-speaking peoples’ will be able to apply

their learning to other papers offered by ASNC. The history of the Gaelic-

speaking peoples offers a complementary perspective on the emergence of the

combined Pictish and Scottish kingdom. By studying the Anglo-Saxon history paper,

students will become equipped to understand developments on the eastern borders of the

Welsh kingdoms. The Medieval Welsh literature paper provides an invaluable guide to the

cultural milieu in which some of the relevant texts were created.

The subject is taught through weekly lectures and supervisions. The lectures run for four

terms (over the course of two years); each term one of the regions which sustained

Brittonic-speaking inhabitants is covered. In the Easter term of each academic year

students attend revision sessions. Students will have had a total of eight supervisions in

this paper by the time that they take their Part I exam.

HISTORY OF THE GAELIC-SPEAKING PEOPLES

This course provides an introduction to the history of the peoples of Ireland,

Western Scotland, and the Isle of Man, from the advent of Christianity to the Anglo-

Norman settlements in the twelfth century.

Early medieval Ireland is proverbially known as ‘the island of saints’, and western

Scotland witnessed a similar flourishing of ecclesiastical activity during the period. Yet

the secular world of the Gaelic-speaking territories also underwent striking developments.

Consequently, the course focuses on the exercise of power: the close alliance between

secular and ecclesiastical interests is probed, the shifts in influence between major

dynasties are sketched, and the activities of overlords and high- kings are investigated.

The economic underpinnings of society also merit consideration: how was the wealth

created which is manifested in the exquisite works of art for which the Gaelic-speaking

territories are renowned? These fine objects include intricately decorated reliquaries and

brooches.

Another theme that the course pursues is the extent to which the different parts of the

Gaelic-speaking world remained unified throughout the period. The peoples of western

Scotland became preoccupied with the Pictish kingdoms to their east, and distanced from

their Irish neighbours in some regards. The impact of external forces must also be

considered, notably viking raids and colonisation. These occurrences affected the

coastlines of western Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man profoundly, and their

ramifications were also felt inland.

The written sources for the history of the Gaelic- speaking peoples are diverse, and

working with them develops a student’s grasp of historical techniques. Several well-

preserved compilations of annals are available, which record events that occurred on both

sides of the North Channel. A more colourful view of the Gaelic-speaking world is

afforded by hagiographical works, and an extensive body of legal material sheds light on

the structure of society.

Students can combine the information that they have gleaned from textual material with

other types of evidence. The archaeological record not only features eye- catching

jewellery and delicately illustrated Gospel Books; the practicalities of daily life have also

been revealed by the extensive excavations of the viking and medieval settlements at

Dublin. The unearthing of new archaeological finds and the ongoing process of

reinterpreting texts are reinvigorating debates that are central to the course, notably the

question of the viking impact on Ireland.

The course complements other papers that are offered by ASNC. The ‘history of the

Brittonic- speaking peoples’ enables students to view the Isle of Man and western

Scotland through the lens of the British and Pictish kingdoms. The English and

Scandinavian history papers help students to understand the creation of Hiberno-Saxon

culture, and the viking incursions, respectively. The Medieval Irish literature paper

investigates narrative and poetic texts that reveal much about the society and culture of the

Gaelic-speaking world.

The ‘history of the Gaelic-speaking peoples’ is taught over two years; the first focuses

on Scotland and Man, and the second on Ireland. During the Michaelmas and Lent terms

there are lectures, which are copiously illustrated by maps and pictures. In the Easter term

of each academic year students attend revision sessions. Students also have supervisions

in the subject; they will have had a total of eight supervisions in this paper by the time that

they take their Part I exam.

OLD ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

‘Old English’ is the name given to English in the period from the earliest recorded texts

(c.700) to the Norman Conquest. While at first sight very different from its modern

counterpart, with some unusual letter-forms and an inflected system of grammatical

endings that need to be carefully learned, one soon begins to appreciate the close

connections that the language of this period has with our own, including supplying almost

all the major, everyday vocabulary that we still use. The ASNC Old English course

focusses both on learning to read this language, and upon the study of the writings to

which this gives one access, amongst the richest and most impressive of all the vernacular

literatures of western Europe in the early Middle Ages.

Old English literature is perhaps best known for its great poetic monuments, most

famously the heroic masterpiece Beowulf, a powerful and richly-textured story of dark-age

society in which a superhuman warrior does battle with monstrous foes. But there is much

else of interest in a large and intellectually engaging corpus of more than 30,000 lines of

surviving Old English verse, including stirring accounts of secular conflict, some of them

contemporary (such as The Battle of Maldon and The Battle of Brunanburh), some of them

harking back to heroic-age legend and its panoply of famous kings and peoples (The Fight

at Finnsburh, Deor, Widsith). Also prominent are re-tellings of the biblical stories and

saints’ lives so important to the medieval Christian consciousness; notable is the sublime

Dream of the Rood, in which the Cross tells of its experiences at the Crucifixion in

compelling detail. There is also a wide range of other styles and interests, including the

group of vivid first-person laments classified as ‘elegies’ (e.g. The Wanderer, The Wife’s

Lament) and the cornucopia of Riddles in the Exeter Book (whose solutions, where still

guessable, run the gamut from the devout to the homely, the rude and the plain absurd).

And this is hardly the limit of literary production in Old English. Far more numerous

and, if anything, more diverse than the surviving verse texts is the corpus of Old English

prose. The first great flowering of work in this medium came towards the end of the

ninth century when King Alfred the Great sought to restore some semblance of learning to

his viking- ravaged kingdom by making the first extended translations of important

philosophical texts from Latin.

In the tenth century, prose writing in English flourished still further in the upsurge of

learned activity known as the ‘Benedictine Reform’. Alongside the continuation and

expansion of ongoing works begun earlier, notably the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, this period

produced some of the most important and prolific authors of pre-Conquest England,

amongst them the homilists Ælfric and Wulfstan.

Students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in this whole eclectic range of

literature as part of their work for the Old English paper in ASNC. Teaching consists of a

combination of lectures, supervisions and language classes over the course of the two

years of Part I. The classes take learners from scratch (no previous acquaintance with Old

English is required) to the point where they should be able to tackle the most difficult Old

English texts; a representative selection of both prose and poetry is set for translation.

Lectures and supervisions focus on the interpretation of texts from a variety of critical

perspectives: alongside broader issues such as the placing of these works in their historical

and cultural context and the analysis of their major themes and emphases, the detailed

close reading of passages is stressed as of fundamental importance to an understanding of

literary aim and effect.

The Old English paper combines well with the other language and literature papers,

especially Old Norse and Anglo-Latin, both of which give insights into the literary and

cultural milieu of Old English writers. The same is naturally true of the paper in the

History of England before the Norman Conquest.

OLD NORSE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Old Norse is the English term used to describe the language of manuscripts preserved in

medieval Iceland and Norway. At Cambridge, Old Norse can be studied at beginners’,

intermediate and advanced level, in three year-long courses which equip students to

analyse the grammar and syntax of both prose and poetry as well as to gain access early on

to the exciting narratives of Scandinavian sagas and mythological prose in the original. In

their second year, students begin studying the language of skaldic praise poetry, the

allusive, metrically complex and kenning-riddled art-form that is unique to the north. To

understand it, a knowledge of Scandinavian mythology is essential, so students read the

traditional eddic poetry of the Codex Regius anthology (ca 1270) and the mythographic

treatise of Snorri Sturluson (ca 1220s), both extensively in translation and intensively in

selected excerpts in the original language.

The same approach is adopted in relation to saga literature in the first and second

years, with excerpts of Hrólfs saga kraka (a legendary saga), Íslendinga saga (a

contemporary Icelandic political saga), Heimskringla (a compilation of kings’ sagas) and

Kormaks saga (a poet’s saga) studied in detail in language classes in parallel with lectures

and supervised essays on saga literature and the literary history of saga genres.

In their third year (Part II), students continue at an advanced level, reading in the original

Hervarar saga ok Heiñreks (a legendary saga which quotes a great variety of poetry) and

Ágrip af Nóregs konungasõgum (one of the earliest texts of a cycle of kings’ sagas).

Seminar work is the focus of study in Part II, with students making independent

presentations in their first term on topics concerning the development of Old Norse

prosimetrum – the mixture of verse and prose so characteristic of Old Norse literature –

and the study of Old Norse poetics, in their second. Manuscript images of texts are

studied in class and attention is drawn to the complex manuscript transmission of both

sagas and poetry, many works extant in different versions.

The study of Old Norse is complemented by the study of Scandinavian History as well as

by Old English and Anglo-Saxon History. It also combines well with Irish literature

and history and is enhanced by a knowledge of Latin and ecclesiastical history. In

Part II, study of Textual Criticism (the theory and practice of editing texts) is a rewarding

combination for students working with original sources in their dissertations.

The department arranges an extra-curricular course in modern Icelandic during term time

to enable students to round out their knowledge of Old Norse by studying its modern-day

counterpart, a language which also allows them access to contemporary scholarship in

Icelandic.

Students are also encouraged to apply for university funds to travel to Scandinavia in the

summers between academic years in order to take language courses, to explore sites

described in the sagas, and to visit archaeological excavations and museums throughout

Scandinavia.

MEDIEVAL WELSH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

This course provides an introduction to Medieval Welsh language and literature. The

earliest form of Welsh begins to emerge in the seventh or eighth centuries in Wales when

it becomes distinguishable from its sister languages of Cornish and Breton.

Although some poems and glosses are preserved in contemporary manuscripts of that

period, most of the rich literature associated with medieval Wales is preserved in

manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, even though it may have been

composed some centuries earlier.

Among the Medieval Welsh literature studied in Part I of the course (in the original or in

translation) there is a number of prose tales (the ‘Mabinogion’), and a varied range of

poetry. The prose tales include the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (wonder-tales where

the human dilemmas are examined in a magical setting), and ‘How Culhwch won Olwen’,

the earliest surviving Arthurian tale. The poetry includes the heroic poetry attributed to

Aneirin and Taliesin, possibly dating from as early as the sixth century; the

‘saga poetry’ which examines attitudes to war and other human emotions, within the

setting of the world of nature; prophetic poetry attributed to Myrddin (the Merlin of

Arthurian legend); and the personal poems of the fourteenth-century Dafydd ap

Gwilym.

No previous knowledge of Welsh is required. The university teaching for the course

consists of classes and lectures, and is normally supplemented by a series of eight

supervisions provided by the college. The language classes consist, in the first year, of

twenty classes (eight + eight + four, over the three terms), introducing students to

the grammar of Middle Welsh and to the prose set texts. For anyone unfamiliar with

grammatical terminology, the Induction Course at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term

will help to establish the basics. In the second year the classes study the poetic set texts

(eight + eight + four). The lectures consist of two sets of lectures, one on medieval Welsh

prose in one year and the other on verse in the other.

In Part II of the course the literature of medieval Wales is explored further. In addition one

class is devoted to reading texts in Medieval Cornish and Medieval Breton; the languages

are so closely related that little difficulty is experienced in tackling these languages.

MEDIEVAL IRISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

A rich and extraordinarily diverse body of literary material has survived from early

Medieval Ireland written in what we now term Old Irish (the language of the period

between c. 700-900) and Middle Irish (spoken and written c. 900-1200).

It is this varied corpus which forms the focus of this course. Students are introduced to the

basics of the grammar of Old Irish in their first year in text classes in which a range of

poetic texts is read, as well as an extended prose composition. Their knowledge

of the language and literature of this vibrant culture is extended in their second year

through in depth study of other tales in the original. This detailed work is supplemented in

both years by extensive analysis of a wide range of further narratives in translation in a

series of lectures designed to familiarise students with the main themes of this remarkable

literature. These include kingship and kinship, heroism and love, the texts featuring such

complex characters as Deirdre who chose death above life with an abhorrent king and Cú

Chulainn for whom everlasting fame was the ultimate goal. The writing of essays on this

material which are discussed in weekly supervisions provides students with the

opportunity to develop their own ideas on these polished compositions. More detailed

investigation can be attempted in an undergraduate dissertation on a particular aspect of

this fascinating literature much of which remains to be fully explored.

Third year students can take an advanced course in the subject in which their knowledge

of the language and literature of the early period is deepened and they are introduced to

the language of the later medieval period termed Early Modern Irish (c. 1200-1600).

The variety of genres studied is widened to include legal material and so-called translation

texts, while the multi-faceted features of the Irish Otherworld are also to the fore. Seminar

work forms an important part of this final year of study, students being encouraged to

carry out independent research under direction on subjects of particular interest to them. A

dissertation based on any aspect of Medieval Irish literature can also be undertaken at this

stage.

Medieval Irish Language and Literature combines well with Medieval Welsh Language

and Literature, as well as with the other Language and Literature courses (Old English,

Old Norse and Insular Latin). It can also be taken in conjunction with any of the History

courses, the History of the Gaelic Peoples in particular providing a useful social context

for the literature. In addition, Palaeography and Codicology gives an insight into the

manuscripts in which the literary material is preserved.

The third-year course in Celtic Philology offers students especially interested in

linguistic matters the chance to examine the language of Medieval Ireland in greater

depth, while in Textual Criticism they can examine further its primary sources.

All students will find the course a rewarding one and relish the opportunity it affords of

exploring rich pastures still relatively unknown.

INSULAR LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

This course examines the Latin literature written in England, Wales, and Ireland from the

fifth to the eleventh centuries.

Latin is arguably the golden thread that runs through the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic

Tripos. It maintained a high status during the Middle Ages as the language of the Church,

of the Bible, of the Mass and so on. To be educated, therefore, meant to be able to read

and write Latin. So a proper understanding of the culture of the early British Isles needs to

start from a familiarity with the Latin texts which were read and composed then.

Once introduced to Latin, the peoples of the British Isles began to use it with great

enthusiasm. To take just one example, in late seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England, i.e.

less than a hundred years after Augustine led a Christian mission to Kent, Aldhelm, the

abbot of Malmesbury, composed skilled and ornate Latin prose and poetry. His writings

were studied and imitated right up to the eleventh century.

There survives an impressive range of Insular Latin literature, in a variety of literary forms

no longer familiar, such as hagiography (saints' lives) or colloquies (classroom dialogues),

as well as in more readily recognisable genres, such as biography, narrative history, and

poetry. Apart from Bede, most of the Insular Latin authors studied in this course will be

unknown (although some of them, such as Aldhelm and Alcuin, were reckoned among the

most learned and influential men of the early Middle Ages); the paper thus offers the

possibility of a journey of exploration into largely unfamiliar territory, with the confidence

that study of Insular Latin literature will provide the indispensable background against

which the history and vernacular literatures of the period are to be understood. Surviving

Celtic Latin literature offers the student contact with some of the most fascinating literary

monuments that survive from the Middle Ages: the Confession of St Patrick of Ireland,

composed probably in the 490s, by a man whose passionate mind, striving to give

expression to his powerful sense of vocation, raced far ahead of his stumbling Latin; the

sixth-century De excidio Britanniae (‘On the fall of Britain’) by Gildas, precious

testimony to life and politics in post-Roman Britain, and at the same time a remarkable

slab of fiercely rhetorical and complex Latin; Adomnán of Iona’s late seventh-century Life

of St Columba, which gives an often very homely depiction of life in the great monastic

foundation which provided the first missionaries for the Northumbrians; and Rhygyfarch’s

Life of St David, written in the late eleventh century to manipulate the depiction of

Wales’s patron saint in the service of contemporary ecclesiastical power struggles. There

survives an impressive range of Insular Latin literature, in a variety of literary forms no

longer familiar, such as hagiography (saints' lives) or colloquies (classroom dialogues), as

well as in more readily recognisable genres, such as biography, narrative history, and

poetry. Apart from Bede, most of the Insular Latin authors studied in this course will be

unknown (although some of them, such as Aldhelm and Alcuin, were reckoned among the

most learned and influential men of the early Middle Ages); the paper thus offers the

possibility of a journey of exploration into largely unfamiliar territory, with the confidence

that study of Insular Latin literature will provide the indispensable background against

which the history and vernacular literatures of the period are to be understood. Surviving

Celtic Latin literature offers the student contact with some of the most fascinating literary

monuments that survive from the Middle Ages: the Confession of St Patrick of Ireland,

composed probably in the 490s, by a man whose passionate mind, striving to give

expression to his powerful sense of vocation, raced far ahead of his stumbling Latin; the

sixth-century De excidio Britanniae (‘On the fall of Britain’) by Gildas, precious

testimony to life and politics in post-Roman Britain, and at the same time a remarkable slab

of fiercely rhetorical and complex Latin; Adomnán of Iona’s late seventh-century Life of St

Columba, which gives an often very homely depiction of life in the great monastic

foundation which provided the first missionaries for the Northumbrians; and Rhygyfarch’s

Life of St David, written in the late eleventh century to manipulate the depiction of

Wales’s patron saint in the service of contemporary ecclesiastical power struggles.

The paper on Insular Latin language and literature combines well with both historical

papers, and with those on Old English, Medieval Irish and Medieval Welsh. Many of the

most important primary sources that historians use were written in Latin, and Latin texts

often provided the source for vernacular compositions, or covered literary genres which

afford useful comparison with vernacular texts. Teaching for the paper is provided by

lectures, text-reading classes, as well supervisions. The beginners’ Latin classes enable

those with no previous experience of Latin to gain access to texts as soon as possible.

PALAEOGRAPHY AND CODICOLOGY

This course of study considers the history of writing, book-production, and the survival

of manuscripts in Britain and Ireland. It begins with sub-Roman Britain and extends to

the eleventh century in England and the twelfth century in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The course divides broadly into two sections. The first of these is palaeography: the

study of handwriting. All documents from this period were copied out by hand, and

fashions in writing changed according to place and time. By studying script from

different places and times, one can learn first to read the material and then to deduce

where and when it was written. The scripts considered include those of the British Isles

up to about A.D. 850, those of England from 850 to 1066, and those of Celtic Britain

from 850 to 1200. The second part of the course considers the production and survival of

manuscripts beyond their script. Topics in book-production include parchment, bindings,

decoration and illumination, and the cultural role of books and records.

Most of the historical evidence which survives today takes the form of writing. All of

the literary material which we now study and enjoy was also preserved in written form.

In order to understand written sources, however, we must also understand writing and

book-production itself. Equally, writing itself was — and still is — an extremely

important technology which revolutionised society in many different ways. This course

is a study of that revolution.

The study of script and book-production draws on many different skills. The

palaeographer has always relied on visual memory when comparing and contrasting

different scripts. But evidence from other fields is also important, including history,

linguistics, art-history, and liturgy. The types of ink and parchment, the method of

binding, and the preparation of the page for writing are also important clues when

assessing a manuscript. Modern research also draws on scientific methods of

spectroscopic analysis of inks and parchment, digital image-enhancement to recover lost

texts, and even artificial intelligence to identify patterns across a large sample of scripts.

Finally, more and more manuscripts and documents are being digitised and published on

the Web which gives unprecedented access to these priceless records of our medieval

past.

The paper on palaeography and codicology involves practical exercises of immediate

relevance. Students will meet important manuscripts such as the earliest surviving

version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the only surviving copy of Beowulf, and the

early vernacular annals from Ireland. They will be presented with photographs of these

manuscripts and asked to date and localise the script; or will be given the structure of a

manuscript which has had pages rearranged and asked to deduce its original state; or

will be asked to comment on manuscript images.

The paper on palaeography and codicology combines well with historical, literary, and

linguistic papers. Historians will learn to date historical documents and to determine

whether these documents are contemporary with the events they record. Students of

literature will learn to recognise alterations both to literary texts and to the arrangement

of those texts within a manuscript. And linguists will learn to use the original

manuscripts as evidence for spelling and dialect.

Teaching involves a combination of lectures, workshops, and supervisions, supplemented

by guided reading and private study. Students are also encouraged to visit the British

Library and Fitzwilliam Museum, and will have the opportunity to view original

manuscripts in the college libraries. Only at Cambridge can undergraduates study the

early writing and book-production of Britain and Ireland in such depth.

For further details of the ASNC Tripos, and the Department of ASNC, visit our website

www.asnc.cam.ac.uk