English (​650-1550)

The MSt in English Language and Literature 650–1550 offers the knowledge and understanding, research materials and opportunities, and the skills and techniques, for undertaking the study of the languages and literatures produced in England, Scotland and Wales before 1550.

We aim to broaden students’ experience of the literature produced in the British Isles and related areas across nearly a millennium. We also offer unrivalled training in the core skills for research in medieval studies. This includes reading, understanding and editing medieval manuscripts and early printed books; developing skills in languages such as Old English and Old Norse; and debating a wide range of approaches and methods in the study of medieval literature and culture. Optional courses with leading scholars help to focus students’ interests, and a dissertation provides the chance to pursue in-depth research to a high quality.

The range of the literature and approaches likely to be encountered is challenging and rewarding. We have no one method or theoretical approach; the course gives you time to learn which sort of medieval studies you wish to practise, or invent. Whatever your past experience and expected career path, the course can help you to become an accomplished medievalist with a wide range of expertise.

The structure of the course

This core course is not formally assessed. Seminars over the first two terms introduce a range of medieval literatures composed between 650 and 1550, and a variety of topics and approaches for consideration, such as voice and writing, authorship, form and formalism, and historicism. Students give presentations in the weekly seminars.

This core course provides extensive training in handling and thinking about the ‘material text’ – how we read, date, interpret, and edit from primary sources – including coursework studying some of Oxford’s astounding holdings of manuscripts and early printed books. Such training will transform the way you think about medieval literature, bringing it to archaeological life, and open up new resources for research as well as new kinds of research.

Seminars over the first two terms introduce skills in transcription, palaeography, codicology and editing, and reflection on the significance of studying the material forms and textual transmission of medieval literature. Students sit a short transcription test and submit a piece of coursework of 6,000-7,000 words.

Students take two special option courses, one in the first term and one in the second term, choosing from a range of about six which change each year. Recent years’ courses have included Anglo-Saxon riddles, Cynewulf, archetypes of the high Middle Ages, early Middle English women’s religious writing, post-Conquest literature, Chaucer’s places, intellectual dissidence and dissent in the fifteenth century, the language of Middle English literature, and the languages and literatures of medieval Wales and Ireland. Students are also welcome to choose a course offered by another MSt strand, for example in another period, or in the English Language.

Option courses are taught in weekly small-group seminars. At the end of each term, students submit an essay of 6,000-7,000 words related to the course taken.

In discussion with faculty members, each student devises a research project of their own on any subject concerning the language, literature, or cultural history of the British Isles and the Norse world in the Middle Ages. They receive one-to-one supervision on that research and complete a dissertation of 10,000-11,000 words by the end of the third term (June). These dissertations bring to bear the skills and perspectives acquired throughout the course on one focused piece of research.

The MPhil

For those who would like to take their studies further, the MPhil runs over two years, with the same first-year syllabus as that of the MSt course. It includes further taught courses, opportunities for more linguistic training, and a second, longer dissertation in the second year. It is possible to apply for this course from the outset or apply to switch onto it at the end of the MSt.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of English and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of English.

Many English taught-course students go onto doctoral research, both at Oxford and at other universities worldwide. Other graduates pursue careers in occupations including teaching, journalism, law, publishing and the civil service.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. In certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information, please see our page on changes to courses.

Other courses you may wish to consider

If you're thinking about applying for this course, you may also wish to consider the courses listed below. These courses may have been suggested due to their similarity with this course, or because they are offered by the same department or faculty.

All graduate courses offered by the Faculty of English Language and Literature

English DPhil

English (1550-1700) MSt

English (1700-1830) MSt

English (1830-1914) MSt

English (1900-Present) MSt

English (​650-1550) MSt

English and American Studies MSt

English Studies (Medieval Period) MPhil

World Literatures in English MSt

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Entry requirements