Script Type : minuscule

Date : 8th to 12th centuries; this example from the 10th century

Location : France, Germany, England, Spain, northern Italy, Scandinavia; this example from England

Function : Book hand and basis for document hands

Distinctive letters : This is a very easy script to read as the letter forms are mostly very familiar to us from modern typefaces, and it helps that this is a particularly bold, rounded example with letters well separated. The only slightly unfamiliar letter is s, which has a high form. The letter t is low, without a tall ascender and a wide cross at the top. There are two forms of r, the second a simplified form which sometimes appears after vowels, particularly o. The letter g has an open lower loop.

A characteristically English feature is the slight wedge shape to the ascenders in letters such as l, d and b. This is a feature carried over from insular minuscule. As in usual in medieval scripts, i is not dotted, and u and v are identical. There are no examples in this sample of h, j, or x or the rare letters k, y or z.

The first letters of the line are in uncial script, as shown by the diagnostic rounded M.

There are a number of abbreviations in the example.

Note the interesting variety of punctuation marks. I would assume that these represent fairly precise instructions for reading aloud in church.

Pass the cursor slowly along the lines of text and follow the words in the box below. For more detail proceed to the paleography exercises.

Script Index

Paleography Exercises using Flash

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