Hand: Marginal Lemmata (1r), BL Royal 2.B.v

Name

Marginal Lemmata (1r)

Manuscript

BL Royal 2.B.v

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi

Place

CaCC? Winchester?

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

The hand is somewhat irregular but is easily legible. A thin pen was used, though with some shading. Ascenders are about the same length as minims, are thin, straight, and thicken slightly at the tips. Descenders are slightly shorter and are straight. Minims have small wedges and horizontal ticks for feet. A rotund form of a was used, as perhaps was the cc form in the first word (hat), although this letter is now hard to make out. An alternative Insular form is found in the Latin text, the two sides being straight and the top thin, flat, and angled at about 30°. The form of æ is also rotund, the hook once angular and once quite rounded. The letter only appears before t due to the brevity of the text; the tongue is angled up slightly and then turns horizontal to form the top of the following letter, and the hook does not rise appreciably above cue-height. The two strokes of c are well balanced. The back of d is short; it is twice angled up at about 30–45°, once very short and barely reaching above cue-height, once in Latin is quite long but entirely bilinear, and a second time in Latin is long, rises above cue-height at about 45°, but then quickly turns over to the left and becomes horizontal. Round e is found, the tongue long, rising at first but turning to the horizontal as it passes the hook. The shoulder of h is quite angular, the stroke straight and rising at about 10° then turning down to the vertical. The shoulder of r is similar to that of h but more pronounced: it branches almost at the base-line, rises at about 45°, and then then turns down but curves slightly out to the right. Latin is mostly distinguished by script, although both Caroline and Insular forms of a and d are found.