Script Type : minuscule cursive
Date : 14th century
Location : France
Function : document hand
Distinctive letters : This Gothic cursive document hand is very similar to the previous example, being a somewhat untidy working script rather than the elegant product of a chancery. We might call it a French working cursive of the Hundred Years War. (Or is that gothica cursiva franconia militaria ordinaria? No, don't write that down, just joking!)
All ascenders and descenders tend to be long, loopy and somewhat angular. The most distinctive letter is g, which looks like a y with a horizontal slash through the top. On the other hand, q is loopy and looks like a g. The letter j is differentiated from i and is very tall and extravagant. Both tall and short forms of s are present.
The letters n, u and v are virtually identical, and along with i and m, can form rows of minims that are difficult to decipher.
There are no examples of k or w.
The spelling differs considerably from modern French, and this is made trickier by the fact that there are no accents or apostrophes.
The sample is just from the top left of the document, so it is not continuous text. Pass the cursor along the lines of text slowly to identify some words. To look at the document in greater detail, go to the paleography exercises.
Script
Index Paleography
exercises using Flash 
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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).
