Hand: Hand 3 (197v1–5), BL Royal 7.C.xii, 4–218

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

This scribe used a very thick pen but still wrote with much shading. The curved bodies are somewhat broken, giving an aspect almost like Style-III Anglo-Caroline. Ascenders are very short, and wedges are heavy and ill-formed; the wedges are usually flat-topped but can be slightly split, and branch either left or right. Descenders are usually short and always have thick rising foot-serifs. Minims can have curved approach-strokes or wedges, the latter shaped like those on ascenders. Flat-topped a was used, normally with a thin top and thick back. One example is also found (the first in eadiga, 197v1), in which the top was formed with a separate stroke and extends slightly right of the back. The left side of a is slightly concave or more diagonally left-right. The same form was also used in æ, the tongue of which is long, thin, horizontal, and tapering, and the upper hook rounded. The lower curve of the e-component meets the tongue just past the upper hook. A single example of tall æ is found (ðæra, 197v3). The hook of c is quite thick and fairly horizontal, and the lower curve can be backward-leaning or more vertical. Bilinear d was used throughout, the back reaching just past the body. Round e was used, the back like that of c and the hook, tongue, and curve like those of æ. Tall e is found before minims and descenders. The back is thick, vertical, and extends just above cue-height, the lower curve touches the following letter, and the hook is fairly flat, thick, and curved back slightly to the left. The tongue of f is flat, horizontal, and on the base-line. The top of g is flat, at cue-height, and fairly wide; the mid-section hangs from the centre, has a fairly narrow body, and curves into a wider, rounded, closed tail. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all rounded; the foot of r is long, thin, and straight. Long s was used throughout but with a short descender, and the hook is low, thick, and usually reaches down to meet a following descender or minim; the letter also has a prominent forked wedge at cue-height. A single round s is found, but this is after punctus eleuatus and so may have been used as a capital. The scribe made little distinction between þ and ð (note cwæþ but wearð; ðam and ðæra, but also þe). The back of ð is fairly thick and concave up; the through-stroke is thin and hooked down. Straight dotted y was used throughout, the right branch wedged and sometimes low, and the tail thin and curved slightly left. The top of 7 is long, usually just below cue-height, and very slightly concave down, and the descender has a serif.