Hand: Hand 1 (22r–24v), BL Cotton Vitellius C.viii, fols. 22–25

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

This fairly regular hand has quite rounded strokes, a moderately level cue-height, and is not unlike G.108-1. Ascenders are about the length of minims and usually have wedges or are tapering. Descenders are of similar length again and are straight. Minims have pronounced wedges and horizontal feet. Rotund a is normal, the top and back formed with a single curved stroke, although the resulting letter can be semi-caroline. A similar form was used for æ, the tongue of which is thin, very straight, and somewhat rising; the hook is rounded or slightly angled back to the left and rises slightly above cue-height before g or t. Round c is found throughout. The back ofd is fairly thick, fairly short, fairly straight, and angled at about 45°. Round e is found, the tongue of which is horizontal and turned up at the tip if final, otherwise it is angled up to meet the following letter. The tongue of f is fairly long and is flat but usually turned up at the tip and sometimes extends slightly left of the down-stroke. The hook of f branches from close to the base-line. The top of g is wide and flat, and the mid-section hangs from the centre, is quite round, and curves into a rounded and nearly closed tail. The lower branch of k reaches down to the base-line then curves up, and the upper branch also curves up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are rounded and branch from below cue-height; the strokes are thin at first, angled up, and then curve over in much thicker, bulging strokes. Low s is by far the most commonly found and is sometimes very deeply split; the round form was very occasionally used initially, and the tall form before t and wynn. The conventional distinction was followed between þ and ð except that both oþþe and oððe are found. The back of ð is long, straight, and angled at about 60°; the through-stroke is long, thin, and has a prominent downward hook on the right. The north-east branch of x is hooked left, and the south-west branch is long and hooked up at the tip. Straight-limbed dotted y was used, the top right branch hooked right. One very clumsy form of y is found which approximates a dotted f-shaped form but was probably a correction from i or u (gyta, 22v14). Bilinear z was used, the top and bottom ~-shaped. The top of 7 is flat and quite wide, and the descender is straight but angled slightly to the left. Latin passages were distinguished by script, though with occasional mistakes.