Hand: Hand 1 (pp. 2–190/20), CCCC 41

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

This hand is relatively square and very slightly forward-leaning with a thick pen and some shading. Ascenders are as long as or slightly shorter than minims and have small wedges. Descenders are straight but taper slightly. Minims have small approach-strokes and small horizontal feet. Both horned flat-topped a and a somewhat rounded teardrop-shaped a are found. Both types were also used in the a-component of æ, the tongue of which is rising, horizontal in ligature, or extended above cue-height with an upward tick when final. A similar structure was used for e which is normally horned, although the round form appears occasionally. Horned c appears in the earlier folios, with a flat hook which also tapers where it meets the back, but round c dominates towards the end. The bowl of d can be slightly angular or more rotund, and the back can be rounded and close to bilinear or longer, straight, and angled as much as 45°. The tongue of f can curve up slightly and is normally long; it passes through the descender when enlarged as a capital, but not otherwise. The mid-section of g is quite rounded and hangs from the left of the top-stroke, and the tail is round, closed, and can be rotund or oblong. The upper branch of k is turned down, and the vertical drops below the base-line by almost a full descender-length. Although the shoulders of h, m, and n bulge somewhat, the minims are quite vertical; r is more angular and has a shorter descender than other letters. Low, tall, and round s all appear without any obvious distinction. The hook of low s is quite long and forward-reaching, but that of tall s can be hooked down quite tightly. The upper section of round s is compressed vertically, and the lower section reaches up almost to cue-height. Caroline s+t ligature is found infrequently. The back of ð is normally thick, straight, and angled at about 60°; it can broaden slightly at the end, can turn upwards, or can have an added hairline-stroke which extends up and right. The through-stroke of ð is hooked up on the left and down on the right. The scribe preferred ð to þ, using the latter in initial position and the former at any point. The south-west stroke of x is long and can be hooked left at the top and right at the bottom or turned down at the top and up at the bottom; three-stroke x also appears, though infrequently. Straight-limbed, round, and f-shaped y all appear, none of which are dotted. The right branch and tail of straight-limbed y are hooked, and the rightmost stroke of round y is quite high and relatively horizontal, making the letter almost look like an angled form of low s. The top of 7 is at or just above cue-height and has a small approach-stroke on the left; the descender is slightly angled.