Script Type : minuscule
Alternative Name : transitional Gothic document hand
Date : 12th century
Location : This example is from England
Function : Document hand or charter hand
Distinctive letters : Compared to the other protogothic English document hand given in these examples, this sample is less elongated and spiky, with squarish angular letters. The individual letter forms are essentially similar. The letter a has an extravagant loop above it, making it look a bit like a d. The ascender of d, however, curls the other way. Ascenders of letters such as b, l or h tend to be notably wedged and even split at the top. The descender of q appears, to our eyes, to curl the wrong way, but is distinguishable from g which has a looped descender. The letter r is quite variable and three forms have been distinguished here, one with a curly descender. Only the tall form of s is used. The letters i and j are identical, as are u and v. The letters k, w and z appear in English place or personal names, but there are no examples of y.
The letter i is not normally dotted, except where it is doubled, in which case the second i is extended down to resemble a j, as in the word
filiis.
The text is heavily abbreviated and a variety of abbreviation marks is employed, some of them rather jaunty, as if the abbreviations are more for calligraphic flourish than to save space.
Pass the cursor along the top line for an introduction to the text, and mouse around for a few other odd words. The text does not run continuously as it is from a corner of the document. To examine it in more detail, go on to the paleography exercises.
Script
Index Paleography
exercises using Flash
Requires 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).
