Irish - Early and Medieval Irish

Course details

This course is concerned with Early Irish language and literature in the period from 600AD to 1200AD, and focuses on the study of language, grammar, texts, and their historical and literary contexts. Students are encouraged to develop their skills in close reading of sources, and in close analysis of the medieval Irish language. You will also have the opportunity to study medieval Welsh and Latin, and to take advanced courses in literary studies, palaeography, and textual editing. Provision has been made for supervised independent research to allow you to broaden and deepen your scholarly interests, while a 20,000-word thesis gives scope to postgraduates to complete a significant piece of work in a specific area of interest.

Postgraduate Diploma in Early and Medieval Irish

Candidates who pass Part I and opt not to proceed to Part II of the Master’s programme may register for CC6002 (10 credits) and, on successful completion of CC6002, be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Early and Medieval Irish. Students must submit CC6002 (comprising of an Annotated Bibliography and Project) to the Department by the second Friday in September in the same academic year or may register for CC6002 in the following academic year (part-time), following completion of Part I.

Candidates who pass Part I and opt to proceed to Part II of the Master’s programme and who fail, or fail to submit, Part II may register for CC6002 in the following academic year (part-time), and upon successful completion, will be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Early and Medieval Irish.

A student who subsequently applies to continue to Master’s level must do so within 5 academic years of successful completion of Part 1.

Postgraduate Certificate in Early and Medieval Irish 

Candidates who pass at least 30 credits of taught modules may opt to exit the programme and be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Early and Medieval Irish. 

Course Practicalities

For the full-time one-year option, you are required to choose modules to the value of 50 credits. Most modules have a value of 10 credits and involve weekly classes for the duration of the academic year (24 weeks). Depending on options, a full-time student will have a minimum of 5 classes per week (though many will also contain weekly assignments); students may also choose to attend the two-day palaeography workshop held annually in early September. For one-on-one supervised studies, and for the 40-credit dissertation, students are expected to meet with their supervisors on a regular basis.

After you have chosen the modules you wish to study, you are expected to attend regularly and participate fully in taught classes. Attendance at Old Irish language classes and the weekly Department research seminar is compulsory. In areas of supervised study, supervisors for the relevant modules will be organised by the teaching staff of the Department. The thesis topic and supervisor will be chosen by you in consultation with members of staff. The MA in Early and Medieval Irish entails a lot of reading and study — happily; the library facilities in UCC are particularly good in our subject area.

Assessment

The taught modules are generally assessed by continuous assessment and by end-of-year examinations. In palaeography and the supervised-study modules, assessment is by essay/project while in the research presentation, public delivery to an academic audience is also assessed. The MA dissertation is graded by an external examiner.