Script Type : minuscule
Script Family : Gothic bastarda
Date : 15th century
Location : England
Function : Document hand or charter hand
Distinctive letters : This is a neat and clear chancery hand that is relatively easy to read. The letters are angular, with some curly flourishes on the ascenders and descenders. The letter d has a curly top. The letter k looks like an f with a double cross stroke. Two forms of r are shown, but this seems to be a rather variable letter, one form dropping below the line and sometimes bearing an added upward flourish when it finishes a word. The letter w is an extravagant affair and uses the same enlarged and curly form when used as a capital or within a word. Find the word dwellyng to check this out.
The letters u, v and n are indistinguishable. Combined with the unstandardised spelling, this can lead to variations in precise transcription. For example:
Is this word grannte or graunte?
The jury is still out on this one among the professional medievalists
of my immediate circle, but unless you are into the intricacies of forensic
paleography
it probably doesn't matter so long as you know what it means (grant,
of course). This is according to the social historian's guidelines for
pragmatic paleography where you are reading to find out what the thing
is about.
The letter j is included in the alphabet, but one could get into a semantic discussion about whether it is a j or an extended i, as it does not appear as a consonant but where ij appears intead of y, as in
Maij (May, the month of).
Because the enlarged segment shown is not continuous text, it doesn't make much sense, but pass the cursor slowly over the image and see what you can find. To find out what thwe whole thing is all about, proceed to the paleography exercises.
Photographs on this page have been upgraded from scans of ols photocopies to colour images from National Archives downloads.
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).
