Appendix 2. Sample Selections of Papers

Please note that your Director of Studies will be on hand to help you make your initial selection of papers (for Part I), when you arrive in Cambridge at the beginning of the academic year. If you are a candidate for admission, you would be well advised to have given the matter some preliminary thought before your interview, since the interviewers will probably want to know where your particular interests lie.

Your choice of papers is a matter of your own preference, interests, and strengths. You are strongly urged in your first year to take a multi-disciplinary mixture of language and literature papers and historical papers. You may also sit in extra papers in the first few weeks before you decide which six papers to follow in your first year. If you take a paper in your first year and then decide to borrow a paper in its place in your second year, you have the option of taking it up again in your third year as a Part I paper borrowed into Part II.

A. For a student who wishes to combine a couple of language and literature papers with a couple of historical papers, who is eager to mix a bit of 'Germanic' [Anglo-Saxon and Norse] with a bit of 'Celtic' [Irish and Welsh], and who is eager at the same time to take advantage of our unique course in palaeography.

Prelim and Part I [first two years]

  • Scandinavian history in the Viking Age [or England before the Norman Conquest]
  • The Gaelic-speaking peoples from the fourth century to the twelfth [or The Brittonic-speaking peoples from the fourth century to the twelfth]
  • Old Norse language and literature
  • Medieval Irish language and literature [or Medieval Welsh language and literature]
  • Palaeography and Codicology
  • Dissertation [or a paper borrowed from another Tripos]

Part II [third year]

  • A subject in Celtic history [or A subject in Anglo-Saxon history]
  • The Coming of Christanity [or the borrowed paper The Vikings in Continental Europe]
  • Advanced medieval Scandinavian language and literature
  • Advanced medieval Irish language and literature [or Advanced medieval Welsh language and literature]
  • Dissertation (compulsory)

B. For a student who wishes to focus his or her attention on the 'Celtic' aspects of the ASNC Tripos, involving a combination of both of the Celtic language and literature papers with both of the Celtic history papers.

Prelim and Part I [first two years]

  • The Gaelic-speaking peoples from the fourth century to the twelfth
  • Insular Latin language and literature
  • Medieval Welsh language and literature
  • Medieval Irish language and literature
  • The Brittonic-speaking peoples from the fourth century to the twelfth
  • Dissertation

Part II [third year]

  • A subject in Celtic history
  • Advanced medieval Welsh language and literature
  • Advanced medieval Irish language and literature
  • Celtic philology
  • Dissertation (compulsory)

C. For a student who wishes to focus his or her attention on the 'Germanic' aspects of the ASNC Tripos, involving a combination of the Old English and Old Norse language and literature papers with the Anglo-Saxon and Viking history papers.

Prelim and Part I [first two years]

  • England before the Norman Conquest
  • Scandinavian history in the Viking age
  • Old English language and literature
  • Old Norse language and literature
  • Palaeography and Codicology
  • Dissertation [or a paper borrowed from another Tripos]

Part II [third year]

  • A subject in Anglo-Saxon history
  • A subject in Scandinavian history of the Viking Age
  • A subject in Old English Literature [or Old English philology or Textual Criticism]
  • Advanced medieval Scandinavian language and literature
  • Dissertation (compulsory)

It must be emphasised that the selections above are simply intended to illustrate the range of choice which exists within the ASNC Tripos, and that numerous other combinations of papers are available, particularly if advantage is taken of the range of papers 'borrowable' from other Triposes.

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