Medieval Welsh Language and Literature

Harvard FAS

This course provides an introduction both to the language (including an overview of its origins as a Celtic language) and to the literary culture of medieval Wales, with particular attention to narrative prose literature and its Celtic, Welsh and Norman contexts. By the end of the term we will have read in the original one of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and selections from other texts. The initial focus will be on learning the language before turning to literary texts. For those…