Hand: Later Addition Hand (90r23–90v17, 92v24–31, 125v–129r), BL Harley 3271

Name

Later Addition Hand (90r23–90v17, 92v24–31, 125v–129r)

Manuscript

BL Harley 3271

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi2/4

Place

Unknown

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

This irregular and rather messy hand has a spindly aspect, is often backward-leaning, and has strokes which are often not properly joined. A fairly thin pen was used but with some shading; it was held fairly flat, and this combined with the spindly aspect and long ascenders is very reminiscent of script associated with Archbishop Wulfstan. Ascenders are about half again as long as minims and have a variety of rather dubious wedges. Descenders are about the length of minims and are straight. Single-compartment a was used, the back of which is fairly straight but angled at about 45°, and the lower curve of which meets the back well above the base-line; the resulting form is more teardrop-shaped than round. A similar form was used for æ, the hook of which is normally low and the tongue thin, straight, and rising. A tall and slightly bulging æ is sometimes found in ligature with a following descender. Bilinear d was used, the back of which is straight, long, and quite flat. Round e is found, the tongue of which is horizontal, the hook round, and the lower curve longer than the hook. The tongue of f is long and flat. The top of g is short and slightly concave up; the mid-section hangs from the centre but is angled out to the left before curving back horizontally to the right, then reaching around in a wide, open tail, the stroke of which is turned up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all quite angular. Low and tall s were used, the latter before t and wynn. The hook of low s is angular and branches from well below the base-line, and tall s stands more or less on the base-line but with a hook which meets slightly below the top of the back. The scribe largely followed the conventional distinction between ð and þ, though with a slight preference for the former (ða, ðæra, þa ða). The back of ð is long, straight, and angled at about 60°; the through-stroke is thin and hooked down on the right. The body of þ is triangular, the top of the body being flat and the right side straight. The upper branches of x curve down at the tips, and the lower left branch is long and hooked up. Straight-limbed dotted y was used throughout, the right branch hooked left, and the tail curved very slightly left. The top of 7 is wide with a very slight hook up on the left, and the down-stroke is angled slightly left.