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About our Department

The discipline of Celtic Studies explores the languages, literatures, and cultural heritage of the Celtic-speaking peoples. This fascinating field includes the insular Celtic languages—Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Breton, and Cornish—which have been documented since the Middle Ages, as well as fragments of Continental Celtic that survive from Antiquity. At the heart of our program, however, are Old and Middle Irish and Middle Welsh, renowned for their rich literary traditions and their captivating linguistic development.

Our department therefore focuses on the medieval Celtic languages and literatures, with a special emphasis on medieval Irish and Welsh. We also explore texts in other languages from the Celtic cultural sphere, such as Breton and Cornish, and  Old English and Latin, which intersect with Celtic-speaking traditions. Our approach combines linguistics, literary studies, and cultural history to bring the medieval world of Ireland and Wales to life.