Hand: Additions (Ker articles 2–18), CCCC 41

Name

Additions (Ker articles 2–18)

Manuscript

CCCC 41

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1 or xi med.

Place

Unknown (S Eng?)

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

The extensive additions to the margins were perhaps written by a single scribe, but the aspect changes noticably between texts which suggests that they were written at different times. The ink ranges from quite light brown to dark black; the pen can be quite thin or much thicker; the script is usually forward-leaning but varies in angle; the letters can be more or less laterally compressed but are normally quite angular. Ascenders are usually about minim-length and have small wedges or hooks, but they can be much shorter and can lack wedges entirely. Descenders are usually the same length as minims but can be shorter; they are straight and can have small finishing-strokes. Minims are fairly straight and have feet and small hooks or wedges. The top and back of a were often formed with a minim-stroke, or with a straight stroke angled at about 70°, but both cases are normally teardrop-shaped. Horned flat-topped æ was used with an angled back, and the hook is angular and the tongue high and rising. Round c and d were used throughout, the latter usually close to bilinear and sometimes with a turned-up tip. Horned e was used, with an angular hook and a straight tongue. The tongue of f is flat, thin, and on the base-line, and the hook is normally very high and constructed like long s. The tail of g hangs from the middle of the top-stroke, the mid-section is small but very angular, and the tail is large, round, and open. The branches of k are shaped like horned c, and the vertical drops by a full descender-length. The shoulders of h, m, and n can be either rounded or angular, as can r although this is rarely rounded and the minim here tends to point back in to the left. Long s is normal, although low s does appear, and round s was used in the abbreviation sanctus and very occasionally elsewhere. Long s has a straight back formed from two strokes which were often poorly joined and can be in ligature with following t, and both long and low forms have a straight stroke angled up at about 10–15° with a sharp downward hook. The toe of t can be turned up. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was largely followed, although the scribe seemed to prefer ð; this letter has a long, thick, and fairly straight back which is angled at about 80° and is sometimes hooked up or right at the tip, and it also has a thin through-stroke with a thick downward hook. Straight-limbed and round y were used, both with and without the dot. The top-stroke of 7 usually has a small upward hook on the left and rises to the right, whreas the descender is vertical. Latin is distinguished from the vernacular by Caroline a and d and the form of g.