The Summer School in Manuscript Studies is a collaboration between the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, the University of Iceland, the University of Copenhagen and the National and University Library of Iceland.
The courses are intended chiefly for graduate students (MA/PhD level) but may also be of interest to more established scholars hoping to improve their manuscript reading and editorial skills. Some background in Old Norse-Icelandic is essential. Familiarity with one or more of the modern Scandinavian languages, while an advantage, is not required, as the language of instruction will be English.
The summer school consists of three courses/modules, each of which requires an increasing level of knowledge of and experience in working with manuscripts. Each module is worth 5 ECTS credits, and is it not possible to take more than one module each year. The three modules are:
1) Reading and Working with Manuscripts: A basic module, focusing on palaeography, codicology, manuscript description and transcription.
2) Theory and Practice of Scholarly Editing: An advanced module, focusing on editorial technique and the theory and practice of textual criticism; to qualify for the latter one must normally have successfully completed the former.
3) Preparing an Edition: A Master class for those who have completed the basic and advanced modules and want to try their hand at preparing an edition of a previously unedited text.
The workload of each module amounts to a total of 140 hours, equalling 5 ECTS. This includes preparatory reading before the beginning of the summer school according to the Preparatory reading lists that are available in the right hand menu. Students will be assessed throughout the courses, based on active participation consisting of:
- 80% attendance of the total number of instruction classes
- Active participation in the discussions, assignments and group work during classes
- Final oral presentation, usually in groups (Module 3/Master class only).
