Script Type : minuscule cursive

Date : 14th century

Location : England

Function : document hand

Distinctive letters : This English royal writ is in the aristocratic vernacular, French, and is written in a small and cursive document hand which is less formal than that used in charters. It orders the abbot and convent of Westminster to hand over to the sheriffs of London the coronation stone of the Scottish kings to return it. They didn't.

The letter forms are a bit variable, as tends to be the case in less formal cursive hands. The letters b, d, f, g and y have looped ascenders or descenders, while l, p and q have an angular, open form, although l sometimes extends into an angular loop, with the descenders of p and q both kinking to the left.

There are two forms of r, both fairly simplified, and both the tall s and the short and loopy form, with a closed lower loop.

The letter t is short with a flat top, and is fairly easily confused with c, as is common in later cursive scripts.

The letter e has a tendency to roll over on its back at the ends of words.

The letters n, u and v tend to all look alike, except where v occurs at the beginning of a word. There is no difference between i and j.

As usual, w is an extravaganza of English individualism, oversized, loopy and spidery.

There are no examples of k or x.

This is just one corner of the document, so the text does not run continuously. Pass the cursor slowly over the words to see what they represent. For a more detailed examination of the document and its story, proceed to the paleography exercises.

Paleography exercises using Flash

Requires at least the Flash 5 plugin