Hand: Hand 4 (fols. 248–87), CCCC 198

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

This hand has relatively short minims and a flat cue-height, although vertical strokes are somewhat curved and the script can be quite spaced laterally. Ascenders are relatively long and can be wedged or slightly split; descenders are also long and turn left at the tips. Minims are short, somewhat curved, and have approach-strokes and small feet. Rotund a was used throughout, the top and back being formed in the same stroke; semi-Caroline a is also found, with a thick top and back formed with one stroke, and a second curving stroke meeting the back just under the top. The same form of a was also used in æ, the tongue of which is horizontal and the hook sometimes open. Round c was used throughout with a short hook. A nearly bilinear d was used, the back of which is relatively long and turned up slightly at the tip. Round and horned e both appear, the horned form appearing most often, but round e was often used after low s and sometimes after other letters with hooks. The tongue of both forms of e is long and horizontal, and the hook is angled and within cue-height. The tongue of f is long and flat, the hook is deeply split, and the approach-stroke is almost as long as the hook. The top of g is flat and long, and the mid-section hangs from the middle and is straight and angled at about 45° before turning sharply into a closed vertically-compressed loop. The upper branch of k is turned up at the tip, and both the lower branch and the downstroke sit on the base-line. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all relatively rounded, and the foot of r is small. Only low s was used; it has an approach-stroke which is almost as long and curving as the hook which is itself deeply split. Both þ and ð appear; the scribe clearly preferred the latter but sometimes used the former where the conventional spelling would not normally allow (so ðing, ðe, and ðone, but deþ, all on 251v). The back of ð is long, straight, and angled at about 45°; the through-stroke is also straight. Two-stroke x was used throughout with an extended south-west branch; the lower branches both turn up at the tips, and the upper branches turn down. Straight-limbed dotted y was used up to 251v, after which the scribe omitted the dots. Bilinear z was used, the top and bottom ~-shaped and the diagonal usually remaining within the base-line but sometimes descending below. The top of 7 is long, concave up, and rising, and the descender is vertical. Latin was generally written in Anglo-Caroline, though with horned e throughout.