Hand: Manumission (75v), BL Cotton Tiberius B.v, fol. 75

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

This hand has the ‘tall and narrow’ aspect. The bodies of letters are fairly rounded and not particularly narrow, and the letter-forms are quite regular and with a level cue-height. The scribe used a fairly thin pen with some shading, and the aspect is dominated somewhat by the ascenders and descenders. These are long, often close to twice the length of minims, and are thin and straight; ascenders have regular wedges, and descenders have rounded tips. Minims have short, curved approach-strokes and usually have small horizontal feet but can have no feet at all. Teardrop-shaped a was used, the upper curve and back formed with a single stroke which normally turns up in a long curve after reaching the base-line and sometimes extends slightly below the bowl. A more flat-topped version, close to Conner’s Form II, can also be found (geongan, line 7 of text; stanes, line 8 of text). The round form of a was also used in æ, the hook of which is either round or fairly flat and angular, and the tongue approximately horizontal. An alternative form of æ with Caroline a-component is found once in the name æþelminges (line 3 of text) but not elsewhere, even in other names beginning with æ. Round c was used, with a longer lower curve, and d is essentially bilinear but with the top angled slightly above cue-height. Round e was used but with the back either vertical or diagonal. The diagonal forms of e also tend to have more angular hooks, and the tongue is fairly high and slightly rising in either case.The tongue and hook of f are both quite short. The hook of f branches from almost at the base-line, and the tongue sometimes extends slightly left of the descender. The top of g is also short, the mid-section hangs from the left and turns into a fairly open component, and the tail is wide, open, horizontally-tipped, and extends beneath the preceding letter. A more elaborate g is also found once with the tail looped back on itself in a small, tight hook (æþelminges, line 3 of manumission). The shoulders of h, m, n, and r all branch from below cue-height and are quite rounded but the strokes are not swollen. The most frequent form of s is low and deeply split, but a long form is also found before t with an extravagant tall hook which reaches well over the following letter (the first in both of æþelstanes and preostes). No examples of ð appear in the text, the scribe only using þ. Straight-limbed, undotted y is found throughout, the right branch hooked and the tail thin and normally straight. The top of 7 is horizontal and the descender straight but angled very slightly to the left.