Hand: Six Glosses (gewyrda, gelet, on, 116v; weloft, ream, win, wine, 117r), BL Royal 5.E.xi

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

Although Ker dated the first set of glosses to the early eleventh century, and the third set to the mid-eleventh, he passed over the date of these middle glosses.Ker, Catalogue, p. 321 (no. 252) However, the Latin of the main text on fols 116–17 is Style-I Anglo-Caroline, including the Æthelwoldian r+a ligature, which suggests that these supply-leaves were written before the mid-eleventh century and therefore that the glosses could also be from this earlier period. The bodies of letters are very small, and the ascenders and descenders very long; a thin pen was used, and the hand is slightly forward-leaning. Ascenders sometimes have small wedges but are otherwise straight, and descenders are also straight. Minims have small approach-strokes and small feet, or can lack feet entirely. Single-compartment a was used, the back close to vertical and the body once teardrop-shaped, once wider and more rounded. Round e was used, the tongue starting at about mid-height but rising at close to 45°. Caroline g was used, the form like the Insular but with a closed loop on the left. The shoulders of m and n are not especially rounded and can branch from close to the base-line. Caroline r was used, as was Caroline s, the letter standing firmly on the base-line but not ligatured to the following t.