ME3243 Orkneyinga saga: Text and Context in the Medieval North Atlantic

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 9

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Module caps are determined annually but are unlikely to exceed 15.

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Prof A D Woolf

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Alex Woolf

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

In this module students will read Orkneyinga saga, an early thirteenth-century text from Iceland purporting to recount the history of the earldom of Orkney from c.900 to c.1200. Each week a section of the saga will be read (in translation) and compared with other sources, where they exist, dealing with the same events or themes. The class will explore the motives and methods of the author, discuss key themes and topics and assess the relative historical value of the saga and its analogues. Secondary literature by historians and literary scholars will be used to support the discussions.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE, STUDENTS MUST HAVE SATISFIED THE HONOURS ENTRY REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE SCHOOL OF HISTORY.

Assessment pattern

80% coursework and 20% exam

Re-assessment

100% coursework

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 2-hour seminar (x 10 weeks)

Intended learning outcomes

  • Critically read historical texts
  • Demonstrate an awareness of literary constraints placed upon apparently historical texts by medieval authors
  • Demonstrate an understanding of a key period in the history of Scotland
  • Demonstrate an understanding of key themes in the historiography of Scandinavia
  • Demonstrate an understanding of modern historiography of the last century and a half since modern study of the saga began