Hand: Directions for Devotion (D.xxvi: 2rv), BL Cotton Titus D.xxvi and D.xxvii

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

This scribe wrote a regular, competent, and slightly forward-leaning hand with a pen of average width and some shading. Ascenders and descenders are long, often half again or twice as long as minims. Wedges vary and are mostly well-formed but can be slightly split, and descenders can be straight, can be turned left, or can have small serifs. Minims have similar wedges to ascenders but usually show flat tops, and also have horizontal feet. The bodies of letters are somewhat rounded and seem somewhere between the full rotundity of the mid-eleventh century and the more compressed earlier script. Single-compartment a was used throughout, the left side curved out and the top flat; the result can be teardrop-shaped or can be closer to square. Caroline a is also found on occasion (halga, 2r3; gesyldnessa, 2r13). Caroline a was also used consistently in æ with a low a-component, a rounded hook, and long, straight, and slightly rising tongue. Round c was used throughout, the lower curve longer than the hook. The back of d is short, angled at about 45°, and is either straight or slightly concave up. Horned e was used, the back vertical and fairly straight, the hook turned back in to the left a little, and the tongue horizontal and fairly high. The hook of f branches from close to the base-line, and the tongue is long and flat. The top of g is usually flat but can be hooked on the left, the mid-section hangs from the centre and is quite angular, and the tail rounded and closed. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r branch a little below cue-height and are somewhat rounded; the stroke sometimes rises in a straight section to cue-height, then curves over and out in a very slightly swollen shoulder, and then finishes with a straight segment which is vertical or angled slightly in to the left. Long s is found throughout, the tail sometimes extending a full descender’s length. The scribe made little obvious distinction between þ and ð but seemed to prefer the latter over the former (ðu, ðonne, ðam, all forms of ðæs; but þe, þrynesse, þonne, þu, þine). The back of ð is long, angled at about 60–70°, and vertical-tipped, and the through-stroke is short but hooked up at the left and down at the right. Both upper branches of x are turned down at the tip, and the lower left stroke extends well below the preceding letter. Straight-limbed dotted y is found throughout, the left limb slightly concave up, the right limb hooked left, and the tail hooked right. The top of 7 is quite long and is hooked up on the left, and the down-stroke is angled slightly to the left. Latin was carefully distinguished by script.