Script Type : minuscule

Date : This particular example of a late insular minuscule is from the early 12th century.

Location : England

Function :document hand

Distinctive letters : This is one example from a page containing four manumissions of serfs written in Old English, originally written on a blank page in a gospel book. Each of the manumissions is written in a different hand, but they are all very similar in style, resembling a protogothic script with the addition of particular forms of letters derived from insular minuscule. It is similar to the charter of Henry I to Christ Church, Canterbury, also given as an example on this website, but with the script perhaps a little less formal and approaching that of a protogothic document hand rather than a book hand, but these are subtle variations. The basic letter forms are similar.

Distinctive letters include the f that looks like a capital and extends below the baseline, open g in the lightning bolt form, r which extends below the baseline and s which does likewise. These last two are easily confused. There is an occasional tall s.

The letter y is dotted, but i is not.

Three letters particular to English writing are present: edh and thorn for th and wen for w. The w comprising two interlocked vs is also present.

There are no examples of j, q, v or z, or at least if the v sound is present it is represented by u.

The Tironian et symbol is used for and.

There is a capitalised N at the end of Amen, a quite common way of indicating the significance of that particular word.

Pass the cursor slowly down and along the lines of script for a transcript. For a little more detail, and to look at the other hands on the page for comparison, proceed to the paleography exercise.

Paleography exercises for this example using Flash

Requires at least the Flash 5 plugin