Hand: Main Hand 1 (1r–116v4), JCO 154

Name
Main Hand 1 (1r–116v4)
Manuscript
JCO 154
Script
Unspecified
Scribe
Unspecified
Date
Saec. xi in.
Place
Unknown (later Durham)

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

This script is relatively heavy and written with an angled pen and some shading, although it becomes lighter, more rounded, and more disorderly on the last leaf or so. Proportions are relatively square. Ascenders are approximately equal to or slightly shorter than minims and lack wedges but instead thicken and fork slightly on the right. Descenders are short, straight, and can have short serifs. Minims are slightly forward-leaning and have long, thick approach-strokes slightly below cue-height and regular, relatively large feet. The body of a is normally flat-topped but can be more teardrop-shaped. The same variety was used for æ, although the flat-topped form is more common. The hooks of both æ and e can be slightly rounded or more angular but are essentially bilinear, and the tongues are long, horizontal, and show a slight downward hook which meets the lower curve. A bulging tall ligature was frequently used. The back of e is normally fairly vertical and has a horn which ranges from very prominent to almost nonexistent. Round c was used throughout, the lower stroke of which can be qute angular and very long. Round, nearly-bilinear d is found throughout. The tongue of f is long and flat but can be turned up in a flourish at the ends of lines. The tail of g is closed in a small round loop; the body is often quite narrow but tends to sit slightly left of the narrow top-stroke. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all quite rounded and somewhat swollen. Long and low s were both used, long sometimes before e and g, and often before t and wynn, although the low form can also be found in these positions. Round s is found very infrequently, and usually in final position (wifes, 21v14; ys, 71v3; but scealt, 71v5). The descender of long s can extending well below the base-line but can be very short; the vertical is fairly straight but slightly backward-leaning, and the hook is often quite short and relatively horizontal. Low s+s ligature was used. The scribe used þ infrequently. The back of ð is long, thick, and straight, angled at about 45° and slightly concave up; the through-stroke is long and curves downward at the right but does not extend far to the left. The first, left-to-right stroke of x is thick, straight, relatively flat, and angled at about 20–30°, and the second stroke begins higher with an approach-stroke, then reaches well under the preceding letter and terminates in a rightward hook. Dotted, straight-limbed y appears throughout, the left branch of which is thick, straight, and angled at about 30–40°; the second branch is also thick and hooked left, and the tail is thin curved, and turns up at the tip. The top of 7 is thick and either flat or slightly concave up but turns up at the right, and the descender is close to vertical. Latin is not distinguished in script.

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