Hand: Nineteen Glosses (9v, 12rv, 15r–19v, 29v–33v, 43r), BL Royal 13.A.xv

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

These glosses were almost certainly all written by the same scribe. They were written in brown ink with a very thin pen; the hand is rough but does not look particularly unskilled. Ascenders and descenders are long but ascenders lack any sort of wedge or other decoration on top, and minims again usually lack wedges or feet. A rather rough flat-topped a was used, the right side often extending slightly above the top which is itself slightly concave. The same form was used for æ, the tongue of which is horizontal and at cue-height, the hook low but rising slightly above cue-height, and the lower curve fairly flat but vertical-tipped. No c is found in the text. The back of d can be long and usually curves up at the tip but is once close to bilinear. Horned e was used, the tongue horizontal but long and curved up if final. The tongue of f is short, often angled down slightly, and the hook is rounded and branches from the base-line; the tongue often meets the hook after it has separated from the descender. The top of g is flat, and the mid-section is narrow and hanging from the centre, the tail round, three-quarter closed, and approximately symmetrical about a vertical axis through the centre of the letter. The shoulders of h, m, and n are quite rounded, and that of h often branches almost from the base-line; the shoulder of r, in contrast, is quite angular. A letter is sometimes found in isloation which is perhaps a p but has a wide hook which curves in on itself and leaves a large space between the tip and the descender; it may therefore be a form of low s. Only one example of s is found; it is long, but is initial and before wynn (swiþ, 15r). The scribe apparently preferred þ to ð; the only possibility for using either letter is the swiþ just mentioned, for which he chose þ. Straight-limbed and round y are both found, neither of which are dotted. The scribe of the main text wrote Style-I Anglo-Caroline.