Pembroke College Cambridge

Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

UCAS Code: QQ59. Around 22 admitted per year at Cambridge. Pembroke seeks to admit 1 to 2 per year. No assessment required. Two pieces of written work required. No specific subject requirements. A level typical offer A star AA. Scottish Advanced Highers typical offer A1 A2 A2. International Baccalaureate typical offer 42 -43 points with 776 at Higher Level

The Course

The Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Tripos ('ASNC') is concerned with the history, languages and literature of the different peoples of the British Isles and related cultures in a period from the end of the Roman Empire to the end of the early Middle Ages. It is a course which should appeal to anyone with a special interest in the relevant early languages or in medieval literature or history.

The history, languages and literatures of various peoples - Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Celtic - are studied separately and in relation to each other. It provides the opportunity to acquire, develop and apply expertise in some or all of a number of different, though complementary, disciplines, through first-hand exposure to, and direct analysis of, primary evidence.

The University has exceptional resources in its various libraries. It is possible to concentrate mainly on history on the one hand or literary and linguistic aspects on the other, though most students enjoy combining both.

ASNC at Pembroke

There are usually only one or two ASNC students at Pembroke in any one year, but this is not a bad thing; rather, it means that you'll have twice as many friends! You'll have your College set of friends with whom you share common interests outside of school work, and then you'll have your ASNC friends, bonded through common interests in the Middle Ages and from learning and studying together.

ASNC students at Pembroke are well supported by their Director of Studies (DoS), who meets with them twice a term and is available throughout the term if issues arise. The DoS will give helpful and sympathetic advice on the full range of practical matters: what to expect every term, which papers to choose, how to prepare for the end-of-year exams, life after ASNC, and much more. The DoS is also the one who arranges your supervisions (one-on-one tutorials that supplement your classroom learning), and so is the person to turn to if problems arise in that area.

Depending on your interests, the DoS may also be one of your teachers, and if so, they will be the person giving your the supervisions in that subject. They may even end up supervising your dissertations. All this means that the DoS will know you well and will have the knowledge and experience to support you through the three years of the undergraduate programme.

Pembroke ASNC Teaching Staff

Prof Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe - Director of Studies

As the Director of Studies for Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, I am responsible for organising supervisions and helping students to fulfil their academic potential. As Professor of Scandinavian History, I teach the lecture course on 'The History of Scandinavia in the Viking Age' to first- and second-year students, and I lead the 'Rethinking the Viking Age' seminar to third-year students, so Pembroke ASNC students might well have me for an instructor and supervisor as well as their DoS.

Not just a historian, I am also an expert in Old Norse literature and medieval Icelandic manuscripts, so my interdisciplinary approach to early Scandinavia fits in perfectly with the ASNC programme, where each student can choose their own combination of history, language-and-literature, and manuscript-studies papers (and borrow papers from Archaeology, Divinity, English, French, and History).

Not least, I am engaged with how Vikings are represented in modern culture, as seen from my being the historical consultant on the award-winning video game 'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' and from YouTube videos on 'Real Vikings', made in conjunction with the first series of 'Vikings'.

Go to Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic faculty website

Latest tweets

Pembroke College Cambridge