Hand: Older Hand 3 (191v–92v), BL Cotton Vitellius C.v

Name

Older Hand 3 (191v–92v)

Manuscript

BL Cotton Vitellius C.v

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. x/xi

Place

SW England

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

The aspect is similar to the previous two hands but is closest to G.403-1. Ascenders are very straight, quite long, and show regular wedges. Descenders are long, straight, and taper slightly. Minims have wedges and horizontal feet. Flat-topped, horned a was used throughout, the two side-strokes often being angled towards each other, and so the body almost approaches a Δ-shape. Horned æ was also used; the e-component can rise above cue-height or can be low and angular. Round c was used but often with a flat top and angled lower stroke creating a point where the two strokes meet. The back of d is long and can be almost bilinear or angled at about 40°. The back of e is relatively round but the letter is horned; the tongue is thin, long, and can be curled up at the end. The tongue of f is long, tapering, and concave up. The mid-section of g is round and hangs from the centre of the top-stroke; the tail is closed with a hairline and is very round. The lower branch of k reaches down to the base-line and then curves to the horizontal, and the upper branch is angled up but has a prominent downward hook. The shoulder of h, m, n, and r are somewhat swollen and usually fairly rounded but can look more like a sequence of three relatively straight segments angled up, down and right, and then down and slightly back to the left. Long, low, and round s are all found with little apparent distinction. Long s has a relatively large and round hook and can also have a very short or full-length descender. Low s occurs most often in the ‑es ending but is not in ligature with the preceding e. Round s has a small upper hook and a large lower one, extending slightly above cue-height and below the base-line. The scribe used þ and round, dotted y exclusively throughout. The top of 7 is slightly concave up and has a slightly wavering descender. A short passage in Latin on 191v was written in Caroline script.