Hand: Hand 1 (pp. 1–212), Bodleian Junius 11 (5123)

Name

Hand 1 (pp. 1–212)

Manuscript

Bodleian Junius 11 (5123)

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. x/xi

Place

S England (CaCC?)

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

The script is square in its proportions, weight, and line-spacing, as well as many of the letter-forms and ligatures. Ascenders are short and have clumsy wedges. Descenders are about the length of minims or sometimes longer and taper slightly. Minims have short approach-strokes or barbs and have small horizontal feet. Both square and round forms of a were employed; square a is horned and can have an angled back and a very short top. The same forms were used for æ, the tongue of which is approximately horizontal, and the hook of which is low. Round c was used throughout. The back of d is approximately horizontal, but the tip is vertical. Horned and round e were used, the tongue of which is approximately horizontal, and the tall-e ligature is common before minims, descenders, a, and o, but not before c, g, or t. The tongue of f is concave up. The top of g is flat and often has a slight serif on the left, the mid-section hangs from the extreme left and bulges out slightly before angling down and right, and the loop is closed. The shoulders of h, m, and n can be quite rounded or can be more angular; if rounded then the shoulder-stroke thickens noticably as it curves. The down-stroke of r is very short, sometimes not reaching below the base-line at all, and the shoulder is quite angular; the letter looks almost like what might have been writtin in the old Insular Hybrid minuscule. Only low s is found, which could be ligatured with a following s, but not with any other letter. The scribe preferred ð to þ. The back of ð is angled at about 50–60° and turns up or right at the tip, and the through-stroke has a heavy serif on the right. Straight-limbed undotted y was used throughout, the right branch of which is hooked right. The top of 7 is rising and curved up on the left, and the downstroke is approximately vertical.