Hand: Additions and Cancellation-notes (64r, 76r, 105r, 164v), BL Royal 7.C.xii, 4–218

Name: Additions and Cancellation-notes (64r, 76r, 105r, 164v)
Manuscript: BL Royal 7.C.xii, 4–218
Script: Unspecified
Scribe: Ælfric of Eynsham. saec. x/xi
Date: Saec. x ex.
Place: Cerne

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

The hand is small, sometimes backward-leaning, and a square appearance; the scribe used a medium-width pen, and a square appearance. Ascenders are usually long, fairly straight, and show fairly heavy and slightly split wedges. Descenders are also long and straight. Minims curve slightly and have small wedges and small feet. Flat-topped a was used throughout, the left side slightly convex or angled slightly right, and the right side vertical. A similar structure was used for æ, although the top is slanted, the tongue is horizontal and at cue-height, and the loop tall and reaching; low æ does not appear, but the letter is only found before descenders, t, and g. Round c was used throughout, as was bilinear d which has a long back. Round e was used throughout, usually with a straight rising tongue and low hook; a tall form with a vertical back, a slightly rising tongue, and a tall wide loop was used before g, n, s, andt. The tongue of f is flat, long, and slightly above the base-line. The top of g is flat but short, and the body varies somewhat in shape but is normally quite narrow, with an elongated mid-section and a small closed loop in the tail. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are neither particularly rounded nor angular, but turn quickly and smoothly from slightly rising to essentially vertical. Long, low and round s were all used: low is the most common, but round is also found and long regularly in false ligature with following wynn. Long s has a full-length descender but a hook which barely reaches over the following letter; round s has a horizontal mid-section and small upper and lower hooks. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was largely followed, although ð is found initially (ðam, ðrim). The ascender of þ is particularly short, even in the abbreviation for þæt, and the back of ð is long, thick, vertical-tipped, and with a long through-stroke which is turned down at the right. Straight-limbed dotted y was used: the left branch is relatively shallow, the right branch is slightly lower and curves left, and the tail has a very slight rightward hook. The top of 7 is usually short and slightly concave up, and the downstroke is long and vertical. Latin is not distinguished by script.