Hand: Hand 3 (216–28), Bodleian Junius 11 (5123)

Name

Hand 3 (216–28)

Manuscript

Bodleian Junius 11 (5123)

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

S England (CaCC?)

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

Although the bodies of letters are comparatively small, the script is wide and spacious relative to cue-height. Ascenders and descenders are shorter than in other hands in this manuscript, and the hand seems more restrained and practised than G.640-2 and less laterally compressed than G.640-4. The proportions are close to those of Square minuscule but lack the weight of that script. Ascenders are slightly longer than minims, and wedges can be flat-topped and tapering, regular, or slightly split. Descenders are about the same length as ascenders, are slightly tapering, and curved slightly leftward. Minims are somewhat irregular but mostly show large feet and approach-strokes which approximate wedges but can be very long and prominent. Round a was used, and the same form was used for æ. A low-æ ligature was normally used before t and g, and is conjoined to other letters (incl. rising tongue before desc.). Round c was used throughout. The back of d is short and either rounded or horizontal but is more angular after a conjoined e. A short horn can be found on e; the back can be upright or more angled, and the lower curve is rounded and curves up to join the tongue. The tongue of f is long, flat, and sits on the base-line. The top of g can be straight and horizontal, often tapering somewhat, or concave up. The tail of g normally curves smoothly in an S-shape, although it can be somewhat vertically compressed or have a horizontal end and final downward hook; the mid-section hangs from the middle or right of the top-stroke. The shoulders of h, m, n, r all bulge, but the down-stroke of r is straighter and angled outward more on first page. Low s was used most frequently, with the hook branching at the base-line. Tall s is found sitting on base-line and rising to full ascender height before t on page 216/1, with a large hook curving over the t. The back of ð is long and straight, with a thick, straight, long through-stroke starting at the base-line and ending with a downward tick. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was observed throughout. The scribe began writing only round, dotted y, but had changed to the straight-limbed dotted form some ten pages later. Round y has a relatively long tail with a thick stroke at the start and near-horizontal tip. Straight-limbed y has a thick and straight left branch, and a curved right branch. The top of 7 is horizontal and at cue-height, and the descender is vertical.