Script Type : minuscule cursive

Date : 15th century

Location : England

Function : document hand

Distinctive letters : This script could be described, without getting too technical about it, as a late Gothic cursive document hand. It is neat, but not excessively formal, with a few flourishes, particularly at the ends of words.

Letters such as a, b, d, g and k have looping ascenders or descenders. The letter q has a straight descender. The letter e comes in two forms; one of familiar form, although the cross stroke is sometimes so fine as to be almost invisible, making it look like a c, the other looking as if it is back to front. This seems to be a form peculiar to 15th century cursive hands.

The letter r is variable and three basic forms are identifiable; the simplified form that drops below the baseline, a more compact version which sits on the baseline, and the very simplified form found in Gothic scripts after vowels. The letter s comes in both tall and short, loopy forms, the latter often having the lower loop closed.

As in many scripts of this date, the letters u, v and n are indistinguishable, and when combined with either m or i, can form rows of minims from which individual letters are barely distinguishable.

The letters k and w only appear in English names, where the latter is over large and loopy. There are no examples of j or z.

The text block shown is from the upper left corner of the private charter, and therefore does not show continuous text. Pass the cursor across it slowly to indicate a few words. For a more detailed examination of this interesting document, continue to the paleography exercises.

Paleography exercises using Flash

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