Hand: Main Continuous Gloss (fols. 1–43), Durham Cathedral B.III.32

Name

Main Continuous Gloss (fols. 1–43)

Manuscript

Durham Cathedral B.III.32

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

Canterbury

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

This hand is somewhat laterally compressed, perhaps because of the relatively narrow Style-IV Anglo-Caroline which it is glossing. The scribe used a relatively thick pen with noticable shading. Ascenders are long, straight, and have small wedges. Descenders are shorter but still longer than minims and turn slightly left. Minims are small, quite straight, and have small approach-strokes and feet. Teardrop-shaped a was used throughout, usually with a very vertical back. The a-component of æ is usually wider and more rounded than a, and the hook remains within cue-height. Round c was used throughout. The back of d is short, straight, and remains within cue-height or is angled at about 20°. Round and horned e both appear, and the tongues of both are thin, rising, and extend slightly past the eye before turning into a short but thick downward hook. Both the hook and tongue of f are short. The mid-section of g starts from the centre of the top-stroke but is angled out to the left and curves smoothly into an approximately horizontal stroke along the base-line, and the tail forms a closed and slightly angular oblong. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r tend to begin below cue-height with a thin, fairly straight rising stroke and then to turn into a vertical down-stroke. Only long s was used, the hook of which is very short, and the descender tapers. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was largely followed (but beclysþ, 1v3a; ðrynnes, 1v18a). The back of ð is long, fairly straight, and angled at about 45°, and the through-stroke is hooked up on the left and down on the right. Straight-limbed dotted y was used throughout, the right branch of which has a prominent serif from the left, and the tail of which is usually straight but sometimes also seriffed. The top of 7 is straight, flat, and very short, and the descender is essentially vertical. The main Latin script is Style-IV Anglo-Caroline but of the mid-century liturgical type.