Undergraduate Course: Scribes and their Books: Manuscript Culture in the Celtic World (CELT10061)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will provide a theoretical and practical introduction to the knowledge and techniques required to approach the Celtic and Insular Latin manuscript record. Teaching will consist of one two-hour session per week, split between a one-hour lecture and an hour of practical work which will include reading practice, transcription, and editorial exercises.
The course will aim to balance the provision of practical palaeographical and material codicological skills with an introduction to and exploration of the conceptual framework required to understand and work with manuscripts. Using this understanding, students will have a better appreciation of the texts the manuscripts contain, as they will study how those texts came to be preserved and transmitted within their own historical and material context. |
| Course description |
This course will introduce students to the study of manuscripts from the Celtic-speaking world from the medieval and early modern periods. Students will be introduced to aspects of manuscript study which are applicable to texts from a wide range of languages (including codicology, materials, cataloging, illumination) as well as those specific to the Celtic-speaking context (including scripts, particular historical contexts and multilingualism). Students will be introduced to theoretical concepts in a lecture-style introduction, and the class will then work together to apply what has been learnt through the study (including transcription) of manuscript images. Students will learn about manuscript culture, about how the texts we have were produced and preserved, as well how to use manuscripts in research, including in the use of specialised digital humanities resources like Léamh, Irish Script on Screen and Tionscadal na Nod (CODECS).
The course will begin with an introductory unit covering the basics needed to begin engaging with manuscripts, covering such topics as institutional literacy, materiality, glossing, marginalia, illumination, decoration and multingualism in manuscripts. This will be followed by units on Latin, Welsh and Irish and Scottish Gaelic manuscripts, with particular focus on the latter. These will show the use and development of different script traditions, as well as the interfacing of ¿ especially ¿ Latin and the Celtic languages.
Each week we will meet for a two-hour seminar. The first part of the class will be a lecture-style presentation on the topic for that week, followed by an interactive seminar element. Depending on the matter covered that week, this will be a discussion with an opportunity to go deeper into the matter covered in the introduction, or working through chosen images from manuscripts which exemplify the topic, such as marginalia or the system of abbreviations and suspension strokes used. The students will demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes through these discussions and though their assessed exercises (an essay, a descriptive study of a sample manuscript page, and three transcription exercises).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay of 2,500 (40%)
Textual study of 1,000 words (30%)
2 x transcription exercises (15% each = 30%)
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| Feedback |
As assessment will be submitted and returned throughout the semester, students will get written feedback on their work well in advance of the end-of-term essay, which will form the largest proportion of the overall mark. Verbal feedback can also be given if requested by a student.
As there are to be three transcription exercises, and students will have feedback from the first before working on the second, and the second before working on the third, they will be able to apply the feedback about letter forms, abbreviations, supplying diacritics etc. to their work on the next transcription. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will, upon completion of the course, be able to recognise typical forms of relevant scripts
- Students will, upon completion of the course, understand the development of manuscript culture in the medieval and early modern worlds
- Develop skills for researching, editing and utilising MSS sources
- Students will, upon completion of the course, understand the processes of the production of textual culture in manuscripts in medieval and early modern Celtic-speaking cultures
- Students will, upon completion of the course, understand the relationship between manuscripts and print in the history of the book
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Problem solving
Attention to detail
Analysis
Critical thinking
Research skills
Use of appropriate tools |
| Keywords | Manuscripts,Paleography,Codicology,Handwriting,Calligraphy,Illumination,Medieval,Celtic |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Duncan Sneddon
Tel: (0131 6)50 3623
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: |
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