Hand: Continuous Glossator, BL Cotton Julius A.vi

Name: Continuous Glossator
Manuscript: BL Cotton Julius A.vi
Script: Unspecified
Scribe: Ker, Scribe K. saec. xi med.
Date: Saec. xi1 or xi med.
Place: CaCC

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

The scribe used a relatively wide pen for a gloss, and held the pen relatively flat. The aspect is rounded and fairly neat, shows a level cue-height, and looks much like script of the mid-eleventh century. Ascenders are straight, quite thick, longer than minims, and show regular wedges. Descenders are also thick and straight and usually have angled finials except for long s which tapers and turns slightly left. A slightly rounded teardrop-shaped a was used throughout. The a-component of æ is more rotund, and has a small lower curve on the e-component, a long and slightly rising tongue, and a rounded hook. The tongue of æ is sometimes horizontal and at cue-height, in which case the hook is rounded and rises to about half-ascender height, and this form was used even when not in ligature (æþelan, 38r5). Round c was used, and the back of d is short but straight and angled at about 45°. Horned e is found with a straight back, a horizontal or slightly rising tongue, a round and relatively wide hook, and a lower curve which can be short or which can reach up beyond the hook to touch the tongue. The tongue and hook of f are both short and the same length. The top of g is horizontal and long, the mid-section hangs from the left and is quite open, and the tail is closed in a round loop. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all of average roundness. Majuscule n is found at line-end on 38r5, perhaps influenced by the same form in the Latin on the previous line (n ouimus). A hybrid Insular-Caroline r is found on 38r1 with a Caroline hook but a full-length descender. Long s is found before t and initially, and low s in any position including before t. Long s does not usually reach down a full descender-length and sometimes barely extends past the base-line. The conventional distinction was followed between ð and þ. The back of ð is long and straight but sometimes turns up slightly at the tip, is angled at about 60°, and has a through-stroke which is hooked down on the right and tapering on the left. Straight-limbed dotted y is found throughout, the right branch of which is hooked left, and the tail hooked back up to the right. The top of 7 is long, slightly rising, and hooked up on the left, and the down-stroke is vertical but curves left. The Latin script is Style-IV Anglo-Caroline.