Hand: Hand 2 (pp. 213–15), Bodleian Junius 11 (5123)

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

This irregular hand is forward-leaning in parts, but was mostly written at a wide range of angles, and with a good deal of shading. The hand generally has a very messy appearance, with prominent ascenders and descenders running into each other, although first few lines of the first page are more restrained, and the hand becomes slightly more controlled and bilinear by the third page. Ascenders are minim-length or longer and are generally barbed; they often have long hairline flourishes to left, sometimes with upward hooks at the leftmost end. Descenders are long and straight or tapering, sometimes with a flourish at the tip. Minims have rising ticks for feet and have approach-strokes which are horizontal or rising hairlines, which can be quite long, and which can have an upward hook at left. Single-compartment a is occasionally found, but a Caroline form with a very small head and upright back is more common. A regular round a-component was normally used in æ, although the flat-topped form is also found. The tongue of æ and e can be rising but bending to the horizontal at cue-height; alternatively, an open, tall e or e-component was sometimes used with the tongue ligatured to following f, r, or n. Round c and e were used. The backs of d and ð are long and thick, angled at about 45°, and usually straight but sometimes with a vertical tip. The tongue of f is long and slightly concave up, and the hook can branch from well below cue-height. A somewhat angular g was used, with the mid-section hanging from the centre of the top-stroke and angled left, then turning horizontally before curving around to form an open, horizontally-tipped tail. An alternative form was sometimes used which has a small, oblong, closed loop on tail. Caroline h appears throughout. The shoulders of m and n are often very swollen but can be more angular. The descender on ris very straight. Low s was used almost exclusively. Two examples of tall s are found, but one may be and the other certainly is a later correction (the first s in susel, p. 213/25; ðes, p. 215/6). The scribe used þ rarely and only at the starts of words. The back of ð is long and straight, and the through-stroke is long and always has an upward tick on the left and a downward one on the right. Straight, undotted y is found throughout, with a downward-ticked tail. The top of 7 has a prominent hook on the left and rises back up to cue-height, and the descender is angled slightly left.