Hand: Fifteen Glosses (4r, 11r, 15rv, 16v, 18v, 19v, 22r, 26rv), BL Harley 526, fols. 1–27

Name

Fifteen Glosses (4r, 11r, 15rv, 16v, 18v, 19v, 22r, 26rv)

Manuscript

BL Harley 526, fols. 1–27

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. x/xi

Place

Unknown

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

Most of these glosses are small, fairly regular in script, and were written with a thin pen, although the size, regularity, and pen-width all vary. Ascenders are usually long, thin, and have small wedges. Descenders are also long and are straight. The form of a ranges from teardrop-shaped through semi-Caroline to fully Caroline with little apparent distinction. The a-component of æ is a little more regular: it consistently has a single compartment, and the lower curve of the a-component tends to meet the back well above the base-line. The hooks of both æ and e are round and never high, and the tongue is straight and usually rising but is sometimes horizontal. Round c was used throughout, as was Caroline d. The hook of f is well above cue-height, and the down-stroke extends well below the base-line, but the tongue is usually at mid-height. The form of h is somewhere between Insular and Caroline; the letter was written with almost no pen-lift and the down-stroke is more or less vertical but usually lacks a foot; once it has a foot and so is fully Insular (hu, 26r4), and once it curves back under the vertical stroke and so is fully Caroline (he, lower margin of 11r). Caroline r was used throughout. Caroline s was used most often, the letter standing on the base-line and with a heavy shoulder, but round s is also found (steþ, lower margin of 11r); the Caroline s+t ligature was also used (weste, 16v11). The scribe used þ exclusively in preference to ð. Round, undotted y is found, the tip of the tail having an essentially vertical but concave-left finial. The Latin glosses were almost certainly written by the same scribe and were distinguished by script.