Hand: Bilingual Bella Parisiaeae urbis (Ker article 17: 115v–118r23), BL Harley 3271

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

This hand is small, regular, relatively angular, and has a slight forward lean. Ascenders can be long but are usually minim-length; they have small wedges, and descenders are straight and usually longer than minims. Minims have short approach-strokes and small or no feet. Caroline a was used throughout, and an approximately Caroline form is found with a straight back which extends beyond the body and is angled at about 60°; cc a is also found. A narrow but rounded single-compartment form was used for æ, the hook of which is also rounded but narrow and the tongue straight and slightly rising. Round c was used. The back of d is usually fairly straight and angled at about 30°-45°, but it can be closer to horizontal but vertical-tipped, and towards the end of the text another form is found with a steep back which curves up at the tip. Round e is found, the tongue of which is straight and rising. The hook and tongue of f are both short. The top of g is also short and is horizontal, the mid-section hangs from approximately in the centre and is close to vertical and fairly straight but turns sharply at the base-line, and the tail is open, fairly wide, and hooked up slightly at the tip. The down-stroke of h often lacks a foot but does not turn in to the left. The vertical of k stops with a small foot on the base-line, the lower branch reaches down to the base-line and then curves up, and the hook curves down at the tip. Tall s is found with a foot on the base-line. The conventional distinction between ð and þ was mostly followed. The through-stroke of ð is hooked down slightly on the right, and the back is angled at about 60° and can be fairly straight or can curve up at the tip like d. Bilinear x is found, the top branches of which curve down, and the lower right branch curves up, but the lower left branch is straight. Straight-limbed dotted y is found, the right branch of which hooks left. The top of 7 has a prominent upward hook on the left and rises steeply to the right, and the down-stroke is straight. Latin was carefully distinguished by script.