Hand: Manumissions, Hand 9 (8v21–23), Bodleian Bodley 579 (2675)

Name

Manumissions, Hand 9 (8v21–23)

Manuscript

Bodleian Bodley 579 (2675)

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

Tavistock

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

The scribe of this fairly small and somewhat irregular hand again paid scant attention to the line-rulings and wrote with a fairly thin pen with some shading. Ascenders can be minim-length but can also be very long; they are straight and have very small wedges. Descenders are shorter but can still be longer than minims and are straight. Minims have curved approach-strokes and can have very small feet. The same flat-topped a and æ were used. No c is found, and the back of d is quite short but steep, angled up at about 70° and then vertical-tipped. The back of e is fairly straight and extends slightly beyond the hook but is not horned in the conventional sense; the hook is very angular, and the tongue straight and rising. The tongue of f is long and flat, and the hook deeply split. The top of g is flat, and the mid-section hangs from the right, bulges well out to the left, then turns back to the right and closes in a round but fairly small loop. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all quite angular, although the first curve of m is often more rounded. Low s was used except before t when the tall form is found; in both cases the hook is very angular. No ð is found (but note wulfnoþes, line 22). Straight-limbed dotted y was used, the right branch hooked left and the tail slightly concave up. The top of 7 is relatively wide, is hooked up on the left, and rises slightly.