Hand: Main Hand 4 (63r–101v), BL Cotton Tiberius A.xiii, fols. 1–118

Name: Main Hand 4 (63r–101v)
Manuscript: BL Cotton Tiberius A.xiii, fols. 1–118
Script: Unspecified
Scribe: DigiPal Scribe 7. Saec. xi1/4
Date: Saec. xi1/4
Place: Worcester

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

A particularly exaggerated example of the long ascenders and descenders and small bodies, this angular hand was written with a fairly flat pen. Ascenders can be two or three times longer than minims, can curve slightly right, and have small wedges or forks. Descenders are straight and can also turn slightly right. Minims are small, straight, and have small wedges or approach-strokes and small rising feet. Teardrop-shaped a appears throughout, the back of which can be slightly angled, and the top of which is formed by a small downward tick at the top of the back-stroke. A similar structure was used for æ, although the top can be flatter, and the loop of the e-component is high and rounded and the tongue rising. A similar high loop and rising tongue is often found on e as well, although the eye can also be squinting and the letter bilinear; the back is normally vertical, and the bilinear form is consistently horned, although the tall form is often not. Round c was used throughout. The back of d is normally quite thick and rises at about 60° before tapering and turning right, although an alternative rounded and more bilinear form is also found. The tongue and hook of f are both very short. The mid-section of g is relatively open and curves first left then right, extends horizontally, and then turns sharply back to the left in a small, open tail. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are often very angular, the minim of r in particular often turning back towards the vertical. Low and long s both appear, the former before t and wynn. Long s has a large hook which hangs over the following letter, and the hook on low s is short. The scribe preferred þ to ð, the former always appearing initially and often medially as well but not usually finally. The back of ð is like that of d, with a thick tapering stroke turning right, and the through-stroke is hooked slightly up on the left and down on the right. The bowls of þ and n are both triangular, with flat tops and sharply angled closing strokes. The south-west branch of x is long and thin, and the north-east branch turns down at the tip. Straight-limbed dotted y appears throughout and can have a small hook left at the tip, and the dot sits quite high above the letter. The top of 7 has a prominent upward curve at the left, then rises before turning sharply into a descender which bulges slightly to the left. Latin script was mostly written with Caroline letter-forms.