Hand: Additions 2 (MS 342, fols. 206v–218r), Bodleian Bodley 340 (2404) and 342 (2405)

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

This hand is very similar to the first in letter-forms but is lighter and rather more upright. The hand is again very large but is fairly light and the proportions can be quite square. The page was probably ruled at base-line and cue-height, but often only the upper ruling is visible; the script therefore seems to hang from cue-height, a sense accentuated by the prominent tops of minims and descenders and horns of letters. Ascenders are somewhat longer than minims and have long and fairly horizontal approach-strokes. Descenders are straight or turned slightly left and are rather longer than minims. Minims themselves have long horizontal approach-strokes and small horizontal feet. Flat-topped a and æ are found with long horns at cue-height. The hook of æ is somewhat rounded but remains below cue-height and so is squinting, and the tongue is long, high, and somewhat rising. Round c is found. The back of d is straight, fairly long, and rises just above cue-height. Horned e is found, the hook and tongue like those of æ and remaining within cue-height. The tongue of f is flat and extends to the left of the down-stroke almost as much as the right. The top of g is flat, the mid-section starts slightly to the right of centre but curves out to the left, and the tail is closed in a round but small loop. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all quite rounded. Only low s was used, the approach-stroke of which is almost as long as the hook, but long s is routinely found in ligature with t. The conventional distinction was made between þ and ð. The back of ð is long, straight, and angled at abouut 30–40°, and the through-stroke curves up on the right. Three-stroke x was used, the top branches of which curve down, the lower right branch curves up, and the lower left branch is long and straight but hooked right at the tip. Round y is found, both dotted and not, as is straight-limbed dotted y with the right branch hooked left and the tail straight or hooked left. The top of 7 is not especially long and is straight.