MA in Celtic Studies

Module Descriptor - Y Mabinogi

Department: Welsh
Module Code: MAAC0620
Level: postgraduate
No of Credits: 20
Methods of assessment: one essay (of approximately 5,000 words)
Teaching Method(s):distance learning (web-based course), email tutorials and directed learning.
Pre-requisite(s): none
Co-requisite(s): none
Incompatibles: none
Medium: Taught through the medium of English or Welsh
Contact hours : n/a
Term taught: Flexible enrolment
Lecturers: Dr Jane Cartwright

Syllabus:

This module will introduce students to medieval Welsh prose via a detailed study of four native Welsh prose tales, Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi (the Four Branches of the Mabinogi). Having placed the legends within the wider context of the eleven Welsh tales, known collectively as the Mabinogi(on), and having surveyed the kind of prose texts available in Welsh in the Middle Ages, students will be introduced to the extant manuscripts which preserve the Four Branches and consider issues relating to paleography, transmission, sponsorship, the relationship between the tales and the importance of oral tradition. The course will focus on a variety of different aspects of the tales, for example theories relating to their Celtic roots and/or Norman influence, dating, authorship, style, structure, literary motifs, characterisation and performance.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module students will be expected to

• demonstrate an awareness of the kind of prose texts available in medieval Wales and place Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi in their wider literary and historical contexts;
• discuss the various translations of the Mabinogi;
• show that they are familiar with some of the principal Welsh manuscripts which contain the Four Branches and demonstrate an increased understanding of the importance of primary sources and issues relating to manuscript transmission;
• discuss the importance of oral tradition in the medieval period and the relationship between orality, literacy and performance;
• discuss issues such as dating, authorship, characterisation, style and structure of the Four Branches;
• analyse some of the principal literary motifs which occur in the legends;
• demonstrate a familiarity with a wide variety of secondary sources and the main theories put forward by scholars to date.

Transferable and other skills involved:

This module should enable students to:

• absorb information from primary and secondary sources;
• assess that information with critical awareness and evaluate differing interpretations;
• demonstrate enhanced historical knowledge, reading strategies and interpretive skills;
• acquire effective note-taking skills;
• provide structured and coherent written responses to the problems with which they are confronted.

Select bibliography:

• Byfield, Catherine E. ‘Character and conflict in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 40 (1993), 51-72.
• Charles-Edwards, T.M. ‘The date of the Four Branches', Transactions of theHonourable Society of Cymmrodorion (1970), 263-98.
• Davies, Sioned, The Four Branches of the Mabinogi Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi, (Llandysul, 1993).
• Davies, Sioned, Crefft y Cyfarwydd ( Cardiff , 1995).
• Davies, Sioned, ‘Written text as performance: the implications for Middle Welsh prose narratives', in Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies, ed. Huw Pryce ( Cambridge , 1998), pp. 133-48.
• Guest, Lady Charlotte E. (trans.), The Mabinogion (London, 1846, rev. ed. 1997).
• Huws, Daniel, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts ( Cardiff , 2000).
• Jones, Gwyn and Thomas Jones, (trans.), The Mabinogion (London, rev ed. 1989).
• Mac Cana, Pronsius The Mabinogi , Writers of Wales Series ( Cardiff , 1992).
• Roberts, Brynley F., Studies on Middle Welsh Literature (Lampeter, 1992).
• Simms-Williams, Patrick, ‘The submission of Irish kings in fact and fiction: Henry II, Bendigeidfran and the dating of the Four Branches', Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 6 (1991), 31-61.
• Valente, Roberta L., ‘Merched y Mabinogi: women and the thematic structure of the Four Branches', PhD thesis, Cornell University , 1986.
• Welsh, Andrew, ‘The traditional narrative motifs of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi ', Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 15 (1988), 51-62.
• Williams, Ifor, ed. Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi ( Cardiff , 1930).

Evaluation:

Module evaluation questionnaires are distributed to students towards the end of the course. The curriculum is also discussed at termly meetings of the Staff-Student Consultative Committee and e-learning students are invited to submit comments to the Director of E-learning via email prior to the meetings. The course is also subject to annual reports by the External Examiner and periodic review by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.