Script Type : minuscule
Script Family : Gothic bastarda
Date : 15th century
Location : England
Function : Document hand or charter hand
Distinctive letters : This 15th century chancery hand is very tiny. It tends towards a cursive style, but is very neat. Dare one see a fastidious female style here, or would that be jumping to quite unjustifiable conclusions?
The small letters are very angular, and n, u and v become largely indistinguishable, although there is a different form of u when it appears at the beginning of a word. The ascenders of b, h and l are loopy, while d is usually looped but not in every case. The letter w has a simple form of two joined vs.
There are two forms of s, the tall and the short and loopy, and two forms of r.
There are no example of j, q or z.
Pass the cursor slowly over the lines of text to pick out some words. As this is only one end of the document, the text does not run continuously. This document has an endorsement stating what action was taken in a different hand. Check out this second script example, or go to the paleography exercises to examine the whole thing in detail.
Script
Index Paleography
exercises using Flash
These require at least the Flash 5 plugin
If you are looking at this page without frames, there is more information about medieval writing to be found by going to the home page (framed) or the site map (no frames).
