This glossary is part of Dianne Tillotson's Medieval Writing website. For an alphabetically searchable version of this glossary, click here. This page last updated 2/5/2007.

~anglicana formata : formal cursive script used as a book hand in England in the 14th century

~anglicana formata hybrida : formal script used as a book hand in England, of the bastarda family

~Anglo-Norman : form of French spoken by the Norman conquerors of England; also referred to as Norman French

~annals : history of events recorded year by year

~antiphon : verses sung alternately by two choirs, or by a soloist and choir; in the divine office, sentences from scripture recited before and after the Psalms and canticles

~antiphoner : book containing the music for divine office; a sub-set of the breviary

~Apocalypse : volume containing the Book of Revelations from the Bible, detailing the last days of the world and the Last Judgement

~Apocrypha : Biblical stories which were not considered to be part of the official canon: those of the Old Testament were reinstated after they haad been excised in Jerome's Vulgate; those of the New Testament were not included in the official Biblical text

~artist-scribe : a craftsman who has both transcribed and illustrated manuscripts

~ascender : the part of a letter in a minuscule script which projects above the tops of other lower case letters, such as the upper part of l, h or b

~ autograph manuscript : a manuscript for which the scribe was the original author of the work

~bastarda : family of book hands formed from the hybridisation of Gothic textura with cursive scripts

~bastarda anglicana : book hand used in England in the 14th century, a hybridisation of Gothic textura with cursiva anglicana

~Bastard Secretary : book hand developed in England from the hyridisation of Gothic textura with the French Secretary hand

~Bâtarde : French bastarda book hand with many formal qualities from Gothic textura

~benedictional : a book of prayers for use in the mass

~Beneventan minuscule : script used in southern Italy and Dalmatia from the 8th to the 13th century

~bestiary : book containing stories about and descriptions of diverse animals, often with an overlying moral content

~Bible : the basic text of the Christian faith, comprising the Old Testament which documents the history of the Jewish people before the birth of Christ, and the new Testament which details the life of Christ and its aftermath

~ bifolium : two pages from a book formed from a single sheet of parchment folded down the middle

~ bill : alternative term for a petition, a document directed to the king or Chancery Court requesting legal action

~black letter Gothic : large clear and formal Gothic book hand

~book hand : script used for transcribing books

~Book of Hours : book containing readings and prayers to be read by members of the laity at the times of the daily office

~borough charter : a grant by the monarch or other authority to a town granting certain privileges and allowing it to control certain of its own affairs

~breviary : book containing the form of services for the daily round of divine office

~bulla : unique lead seal attached to legal documents from the papal chancery, gives rise to the term papal bull

~calendar : in terms of the liturgical calendar found in many religious manuscripts, a listing of the feast days and saints' days throughout the year

~calligraphy : the art of decorative handwriting

~canon law : the body of ecclesiastical rules or laws imposed by authority in matters of faith, morals and discipline

~canon table : a concordance table in a Bible for locating passages of similar content in the four gospels

~canticle : song or prayer, other than a Psalm, derived from the Bible and used in church worship

~capitalis : a script composed entirely of capital letters; a majuscule script

~capitalis quadrata : Old Roman majuscule script used mainly for inscriptions on stone, also called square capitals

~carbon ink : black ink in which the major colouring matter is soot

~Caroline minuscule : script developed from various precursors but established in the court of Charlemagne; became a standard form of script over much of western Europe; also known as Carolingian minuscule

~carta ejecutoria : a form of letters patent produced by the royal chancery in late medieval Spain

~cartulary : a collection of transcribed copies of charters in book form

~catchword : a word written in the margin on the last page of a gathering, being the first word of the next gathering

~chancery : in its most general form, refers to an administrative office, or writing office; in medieval England, the oldest and most important of the royal secretariats

~chancery hand : distinctive style of script used by the royal chancery

~charter : written grant of rights by sovereign or legislature

~charter hand : script used for charters or other legal documents, term mainly used in Britain

~chirograph : a legal agreement in which the text is entered twice, then the two halves separated with a zigzag cut and a half given to each party to the agreement; also called an indenture

~Chrismon : a graphic sign representing the name of Christ

~chronicle : a simple form of history which registers summaries of events in chronological order

~codex : a manuscript in the form of a book

~codicology : the study of books

~colophon : an inscription added to the end of a manuscript book when it was completed

~computistical : in relation to computing the movements of the moon, stars and planets

~Corbie ab : formal minuscule book hand in use in France in the 7th and 8th centuries, associated, but not exclusively, with the abbey of Corbie

~court hand : document hand produced by one of the official legal, legislative or administrative offices of government

~court roll : record of law court proceedings in the form of a parchment roll

~curialis : elaborate minuscule document hand used in the papal curia, or administrative offices of the pope, until the 10th century; also known as littera Romana

~cursiva anglicana : cursive script used in the English chancery, adopted as a book hand in the 13th century

~cursive : script which is rapidly written as letters are joined together

~cursive capitals : majuscule script from around the 1st century AD, used for documents and personal handwriting; also known as Old Roman cursive

~cursive half uncial : formal personal handwriting script of the late Roman era; also called quarter uncial

~custumal : manorial document detailing units of tenure and the customary law of the manor

~decretals : collections of letters written by the pope in answer to specific question, then having the authority of canon law

~deed : legal document establishing ownership of land or property

~descender : the part of a letter in a minuscule script that extends below the base line of the other letters, as in the lower part of p or g

~diploma : type of very formal legal document or charter

~diploma hand : document hand, used for legal or administrative documents; term mainly used in Europe

~diplomatic : study of the formal qualities of a document, including standardised forms of wording and layout

~diplomatic minuscule : script used for formal diplomas in Continental Europe, based on Caroline minuscule with elaborate ascenders and descenders

~diptych : two tablets hinged like a book: in relation to liturgical works specifically refers to lists of people and churches to be prayed for displayed in this form

~divine office : the daily cycle of choir services performed by clergy

~document hand : script used for transcribing legal or administrative documents

~dominical letters : a series of letters found in the calendar which allowed the determination of Sundays for any given year

~dorso : the left hand page of an open book, or the reverse side of a page or document, often abbreviated as d

~ductus : the order and direction in which the strokes which make up a letter are executed

~edh : character in the Old English alphabet derived from a rune, representing th but resembling a d with a cross through the ascender

~epitome : a series of extracts from or condensed version of a written work

~evangelary : a book of readings or lessons for the mass

~exchequer : the main financial office of the medieval monarchy of England

~explicit : a heading indicating the end of a section of text

~extent : manorial document listing holdings and tenants with their obligations in labour services and rent, also known as a terrier

~exultet roll : a manuscript roll from which a deacon read the liturgy for Easter, with pictures places inverted with respect to the text so as to be visible to the congregation as the roll wrapped over the pulpit, originating almost exclusively from southern Italy

~feet of fines : the third copies of final concords, or chirographs, retained by the law court and ultimately the treasury as a record

~ferial psalter : liturgical book containing the Book of Psalms in the order that they are performed in the liturgy, or with aids to indicating that order

~final concord or fine : document in the form of an indenture or chirograph recording the result of a lawsuit

~florilegium : anthology, or collection of extracts from various works

~folio : a single leaf or page of a manuscript; they are numbered with r (recto) for the front or right hand page and v (verso) for the back or left hand page

~formata : referring to the formal and precise execution of a script

~Gallican translation : one of the two generally used translations of the Psalms in the Vulgate Bible, based on Jerome's revision of the Old Latin version, used in all later medieval Bibles

~gathering : a bundle of rectangular parchment sheets, folded and stitched to form a section of a book prior to binding; also called a quire

~Germanic minuscule : family of scripts used in Germany in the 7th and 8th centuries

~gloss : a commentary on, or sometimes a translation of, a manuscript work written between the lines or around the margins of the main text

~golden number : a number assigned to each year by a computational process which identified the times of the new moon and allowed the calculation of the date of Easter

~gold leaf : gold beaten out into microscopically thin sheets, which was applied to manuscript letters and illustrations

~gospel : book containing the first four books of the New Testament; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; detailing the life, death and resurrection of Christ

~Gothic : suite of scripts of the later middle ages, originating in northern France and the low countries in the late 11th century; also refers to the architectural style which developed in the same time and place; originally the language of the Goths. The references to writing style and architecture were originally intended to be pejorative, associated with barbarism.

~gradual : book of the music to be sung in the mass

~great seal : the most important of the royal seals of England, served by the office of the Chancery

~grisaille : in relation to manuscripts, miniatures or historiated initials executed in monochrome shades of grey

~half uncial : script of the early medieval period, derived from late Roman, containing both minuscule and majuscule forms

~hand : the distinctive features of the handwriting of an individual

~hard point : method of ruling a manuscript page by scoring the lines into the surface of the parchment

~herbal : book with illustrations and descriptions of plants, including their curative properties

~historiated initial : enlarged initial letter containing a painting relating to the text

~homilary : book containing the homilies or teachings of the early fathers of the Christian church

~humanistic script: Italian script of the 15th century, based on Caroline minuscule

~hymnal : a collection of hymns

~ides : the 13th or the 15th of the month, depending on the month, in Roman dating

~illumination : the decoration of a manuscript with gold leaf; the term is used loosely, but not strictly correctly, to refer to any illustrated manuscript

~incipit : a heading indicating the beginning of a section of text

~incunabula : a book printed before 1500

~indenture : a legal agreement in which the text is entered twice, then the two halves separated with a zigzag cut and a half given to each party to the agreement; also called a chirograph

~indiction : in dating terms, a repeating cycle of 15 years beginning on 1st September 312, introduced by the Emperor Constantine for taxation purposes but utilised as a dating system during the medieval era

~inscription : part of a charter which identifies the grantor of the privileges specified

~inspeximus : copy of an earlier document, confirmed by authority

~insular half uncial : script in use in Britain and Ireland in the 7th and 8th centuries, a form of half uncial with some majuscule and some distinctively insular letter forms

~insular majuscule : a form of half uncial used in Britain and Ireland in which certain capitalised letter forms from uncial are also included

~insular minuscule : script originating in the early medieval period in Ireland, and spreading through Anglo-Saxon England

~invocation : an invocation to the deity found at the beginning of solemn documents such as royal charters until around the 14th century

~iron gall ink : a brownish ink made from various formulations which included ferrous sulphate and the galls from oak leaves

~kalens (or kalends) : the first day of the month in Roman dating

~leaf : a single page of a book

~lectionary : book containing Biblical readings for the mass

~legendary : book detailing the lives of saints

~letters close : private letters or letters of lesser formality from a royal chancery, sent in closed form

~letters patent : royal letters containing instructions to an official or initiating legal action, sent in open form and certified by seal

~ligature : a method of writing certain letter combinations in which two separate letters are joined into a new form

~litany : a form of prayer consisting of a series of petitions sung by a deacon, a priest or cantors, to which the people made fixed responses

~literary cursive : Old Roman script combining cursive forms with some formal qualities of a book hand

~littera Bononiensis : heavily abbreviated Gothic book hand used for the production of textbooks at the university of Bologna

~littera Romana : elaborate minuscule document hand used in the papal curia, or administrative offices of the pope, until the 10th century; also known as curialis

~liturgy : the prescribed rituals of the church, including mass and the divine office

~Lombardic minuscule : family of scripts used in northern Italy during the 7th and 8th centuries

~Luxeuil minuscule : formal book hand in use in the abbey of Luxeuil in France in the 7th and 8th centuries

~majuscule : any script composed entirely of capital letters

~mandate : letter from royal or papal authority issuing instructions or regulations

~manicule : a pointing hand drawn in the margin of a manuscript to indicate an important section of text

~manuscript : any document or book transcribed by hand

~martyrology : book containing the lives and deaths of the Christian martyrs, to be read during mass on their feast days

~mass : the principal ritual of the church, the service at which the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is performed

~Merovingian chancery script : calligraphic minuscule document hand use in the chancery of the Merovingian kings in France

~Merovingian minuscule : family of scripts used in France during the 7th and 8th centuries

~Middle English : English as it was spoken and written in the later middle ages, particularly as established around the 14th century

~Middle Irish : form of the Gaelic language as it was used between 900 and 1200

~miniature : a full page or smaller painting in a manuscript

~minim : the hooked vertical strokes of lower case letters in Gothic script

~Minnesinger : travelling ballad singers in Germany

~minuscule : script composed of lower case letters

~missal : book containing the complete instructions, readings and music for the mass

~monastery : a community of monks, men who have taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience

~Mystery Play : theatrical performance based on Biblical themes, carried out as a series of vignettes by members of town craft guilds, usually in outdoor locations, on the feast of Corpus Christi

~National Hands : a range of minuscule scripts developed in Europe during the 7th and 8th centuries

~New Roman cursive : minuscule cursive script which evolved between the 2nd and 4th centuries in the Roman Empire

~New Roman scripts : scripts which evolved from the 2nd to the 4th centuries in the Roman Empire

~ New Testament : the latter part of the Bible, particular to the Christian religion, detailing the life, death and resurrection of Christ and its aftermath

~nomina sacra : names referring to the deity or highly sacred concepts

~nones : the 5th or 7th day of the month, depending on the month, in Roman dating

~Norman French : form of French spoken by the Norman conquerors of England; also referred to as Anglo-Norman

~notary : an official empowered to draw up legal documents and to certify them by signature and his own distinctive sign

~ogham : a form of the Latin alphabet used for inscriptions in Celtic countries in the early medieval period

~Old English : English as it was spoken and written before and immediately after the Norman Conquest of Britain

~Old Irish : form of the Gaelic language as it was used between 600 and 900 AD

~Old Roman cursive : majuscule script from around the 1st century AD, used for documents and personal handwriting; also known as cursive capitals

~Old Roman scripts : scripts in use around the 1st century AD in the Roman Empire

~Old Testament : the first part of the Bible, shared with the Jewish faith, detailing the history of the Jewish people before the birth of Christ

~ordinal : book containing instructions for the conduct of services, but which did not contain the texts or prayers

~paleography : study of the form of ancient handwriting

~palimpsest : a manuscript which has been re-used by scraping off the original text and writing over the top

~papal bull : legal document issued under the authority of the pope

~papal knot : form of abbreviation mark like a figure of eight found in formal papal documents and German imperial diplomas

~papyrus : writing membrane made from the stem fibres of reeds beaten together in layers at right angles

~parchment : writing membrane made of animal skin; may also be termed vellum

~pastedown : parchment pasted to the inside cover of a book to hold down the edges of the leather binding

~patent rolls : rolls in the English chancery where copies of letters patent were recorded

~patristic : referring to the early fathers of the Christian church, the commentators of the early centuries AD

~pecia : system of transcription of books in some universities, by which students hired master copies in sections to make their own transcripts

~Pentateuch : volume containing the first five books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

~petition : in relation to English law, document directed to the king or Chancery Court or its successors initiating legal action to arbitrate a grievance against another person or agency, also called a bill

~plea rolls : transcription of the proceedings of the courts of common law in England

~plummet : method of ruling the guide lines on a page using red lead

~pontifical : book containing the text of services which had to be performed by a bishop

~prebend : a cathedral benefice; normally consisting of the revenue from one manor of the cathedral estates which furnished a living for one cathedral canon, or prebendary

~ prescissa : a very formal variety of Gothic textura script with the bases of letters finished flat, without feet

~primary source : the writings of an author contemporary with the period under study, or a first hand witness to events, or an original document from the period under study

~private charter : legal document or grant of rights instigated by an individual rather than by royal or statutory authority

~privy seal : one of the English royal secretariats, developed in the 14th century to forward instructions to the Chancery; also used in a more general sense for a lesser or private seal

~processional : book containing prayers, hymns and litany for use during processions around a church of feast days

~protogothic : early form of Gothic script of the 11th and 12th centuries; also known as transitional Gothic

~prymer : a book of hours in the English language, used for learning to read

~psalm : an extract from the Old Testament book of Psalms, a series of hymns of praise to God

~psalter : book containing the Book of Psalms from the Bible, as well as other liturgical texts

~quarter uncial : formal personal handwriting script of the late Roman era; also called cursive half uncial

~quire : a bundle of rectangular parchment sheets, folded and stitched to form a section of a book prior to binding; also called a gathering

~Ravenna chancery script : elaborate minuscule document hand used in the chancery at Ravenna, in Italy, in the sub-Roman period

~recto : the right hand side of a double page, or the front of a folio, in a book, abbreviated as r

~rental : list of tenants of a manor with acreage held and rent payable

~response : the second part of a sentence, often from a Psalm, sung after a versicle by the second part of the choir

~ritual : a book containing special services for occasional use, such as baptisms, marriages and visiting the sick

~roll : a very long narrow document which is stored in rolled form

~romance : tale of chivalry

~Roman minuscule : form of Gothic script from Italy and southern France, with more rounded letter forms than those of more northerly areas, also called rotunda

~rotunda : form of Gothic script from Italy and southern France, with more rounded letter forms than those of more northerly areas

~rubric : a heading in red letters, using an ink derived from red lead

~rubricator : scribe who entered the rubric headings in a manuscript

~Rule of St Benedict : a set of rules for monastic life devised by an Italian monk, Benedict of Nursia, in the 6th century; became the basis for Western monasticism

~runes : a form of the Latin alphabet used for inscriptions in Germanic countries in the early medieval period

~runestone : a commemorative stone carved with runes

~rustic capitals : a script composed of capital letters, derived from an early Roman form

~sacramentary : precursor to the missal, being the service book of the mass containing only the sections intoned by the celebrant priest

~saga : heroic tale originally passed own through oral tradition

~salutation : in a charter, a formal greeting to those to whom the charter is addressed

~scribe : a person who transcribes documents or undertakes dictation by hand

~script : a generic form of handwriting used as a model by a scribe

~scriptorium : the room in a monastery where writing was undertaken

~scriptura monumentalis : formal Roman capital script, mainly used for carved inscriptions; also known as square capital

~scriptura notularis : plain and functional Gothic book hand used mainly for textbooks

~scrivener : a person who drafts documents

~seal : piece of wax with the impression of a device indicating its authenticating authority

~Secretary : French document hand adopted more widely as a book hand in the 14th century

~set minuscule : used in relation to insular minuscule to designate a formal variety of the script in which letters are carefully formed and well separated

~signet : the personal seal of the monarch of England, developed into a separate royal secretariat in the 14th century; also used in a more general sense for a small personal seal

~Spanish round hand : document hand adopted as a book hand in Spain in the late 13th century

~square capitals : formal Roman capital script, mainly used for carved inscriptions; also known as scriptura monumentalis

~stylus : a pointed instrument for writing on a wax tablet, and sometimes for making notes on parchment

~survey : document listing the holding and tenants of a manor with their obligations, in later periods accompanied by detailed topographical descriptions and maps

~tabula : a display document made by attaching a parchment sheet, or several sewn together, to a wooden board or frame

~terrier : manorial document listing holdings and tenants with their obligations in labour services and rent, also known as an extent

~textualis : the most formal type of the Gothic book hands, also known as textura

~textura : the most formal type of the Gothic book hands, also known as textualis

~textura prescissa : formal type of Gothic book hand in which the letters are cut off straight at the base without feet, also known as textura prescissa sine pedibus

~textura quadrata : formal type of Gothic book hand with carefully delineated feet on the bases of all letters

~textura rotunda : Gothic book hand in which the bases of letters are finished with a circular flourish

~textura semi-quadrata : Gothic book hand in which some of the bases of the letters have feet and others are finished with a circular flourish

~thorn : character in the Old English alphabet derived from a rune, representing th. It evolved into a y form.

~Tironian notes : a form of shorthand invented in Classical Rome and used mainly in the Carolingian era

~transcript : a handwritten copy of a document

~transitional Gothic : early form of Gothic script of the 11th and 12th centuries; also known as protogothic

~troper : book containing the tropes, or later sequences, musical embellishments provided by the choir in the mass

~troubadour : travelling ballad singer from the Provence region

~uncial : script derived from late Roman form, comprising rounded capitalised letters

~vellum : writing membrane made from animal skin; may also be termed parchment

~vernacular : the writer's own native language

~versicle : a short sentence, often from the Psalms, sung antiphonally during worship; it is answered by a response from the other part of the choir

~verso : the left hand page of a double page of a book, or the reverse of a folio, abbreviated as v

~Visigothic minuscule : script used in Spain from the late 7th to the 12th century

~Vulgate : the version of the Latin Bible in standard use since the 7th century, translated or revised by St Jerome

~warrant : an internal document passed between the English royal secretariats initiating action or legal process

~wen or wyn : character in the Old English alphabet derived from a rune, representing w but resembling a narrow p

~writ : a document from royal authority bestowing privilege or issuing a command

~year book : in legal terms, a concise summary of court cases undertaken during the year, made by observers in the courts

~yogh : character in Middle English representing a sound between y and g, superficially resembling a z