MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

University of Cambridge

The MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic (ASNC) is designed for students who have already undertaken a first degree incorporating work in some of the subjects encompassed by the Department. Our MPhil programme provides a nine-month course (October to June) in the scholarly methods and disciplines relevant to the study of the history, languages, literatures, and material culture of the peoples of Britain and Ireland, Brittany and Scandinavia in the earlier Middle Ages. The course enables candidates to achieve an understanding of early Insular culture as a whole, as well as specialising in aspects of particular interest, whether historical, palaeographical, literary, or linguistic. Training is given in scholarly methods and practices, complemented by instruction in the candidate's particular fields of interest. Educational aims of the programme
• To give students with relevant experience at a first-degree level the opportunity to carry out focused research under close supervision in one or more of the following areas: Anglo-Saxon history; Old English language and literature; medieval Scandinavian history; Old Norse language and literature; the histories of the Brittonic- and Gaelic-speaking peoples; Medieval Irish language and literature; Medieval Welsh language and literature; Insular Latin language and literature; palaeography; Germanic philology, Celtic philology, and textual criticism.
• To give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills in the unique range of subjects offered by the Department.
• To provide students with an overview of important texts in the major subject areas listed above and related areas.
• To prepare students for doctoral research in one or more of the ASNC subject areas. These aims are achieved by: 1. Giving students the guidance necessary to formulate a plausible research proposal and produce written work based on such a proposal within a strict timetable. 2. Broadening their appreciation of the principal issues which shape the field of their dissertation topic, and encouraging them to develop insights which might form the basis of an original contribution to the field. 3. Developing students' competence in bibliographical searching (including the use of information technology) and in the critical assessment of research in the field. 4. Providing teaching in a range of specialist linguistic, literary, historical, and palaeographical topics and giving students the opportunity to prepare written exercises for assessment in two of these areas. 5. Developing students' competence in contributing to a weekly text-based seminar, and in presenting their own work and discussing the issues arising from it with an audience of peers and senior members of the Department.