Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic

Teaching

Teaching is provided through lectures, classes, seminars and small-group supervisions.

In your first and second year, you can expect to have between 10 and 15 hours of lectures and classes per week.

Assessment

You'll be assessed through written exams and coursework. All students write a dissertation of between 9,000 and 12,000 words in their third year.

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.

Years 1 and 2 (Part I)Year 1

You study the various disciplines which form the core of the course.

There are no compulsory papers. You choose 6 historical, language and literature subjects, from a choice of 10. You will take an examination in 4 of them.

Historical subjects:

• Anglo-Saxon history
• Scandinavian history
• Gaelic history (Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man)
• Brittonic history (Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, the Pictish kingdoms and the North Britons)

Language and literature subjects:

• Old English
• Old Norse
• medieval Welsh
• medieval Irish
• medieval Latin
• palaeography (the study of manuscripts and handwriting)

Year 2

You can continue to study your chosen subjects and take an examination in all 6 of them.

Or, you can replace up to 3 of your first-year subjects with a dissertation and/or one or two papers from related undergraduate courses:

• Divinity
• English
• Modern and Medieval Languages

Year 3 (Part II)

This is where you develop and use the skills you learned in your first and second year.

You will explore your chosen fields and apply your newly acquired knowledge in original and imaginative ways.

You study 4 subjects selected from a range of 17 papers including, for example:

• Rethinking the Viking Age
• ‘Beowulf’
• Advanced Medieval Irish Language and Literature
• Germanic Philology

You can replace one of these 4 papers with a paper from another related undergraduate course. The range of subjects currently includes:

• medieval English literature
• medieval French literature
• historical linguistics
• subject from the Faculty of Divinity

You can also replace one of your third year subjects with a paper that you didn’t take an exam in at the end of your second year.

You will also write a dissertation of between 9,000 and 12,000 words on a specific subject of your choice within the scope of the course.

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply. 

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

• take part in an interview
• complete an admissions test
• produce some written work
• achieve a particular grade in your current studies
• do some catch-up work
• start your new course from the beginning 

You can also apply to change to:

• Management Studies at the Judge Business School

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.