Hand: Principal Glossator 3 (throughout), Brussels, BR 1650 (1520)

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

This hand is comparatively large and quite irregular, and the strokes of letters are often not properly joined, and minim-resolution is often difficult. Ascenders are as long as or longer than minims and are slightly clubbed or have small wedges. Descenders are about the length of minims and are straight. Minims have small wedges or approach-strokes and small horizontal feet. The body of a is somewhat rounded, but the structure is flat-topped, the top sometimes angled slightly and the left side curved out, giving the rounded appearance. Much the same form was used for æ, the tongue of which is straight and rising and the hook rounded and always low. Round c was used throughout. An essentially bilinear d was often used, the back of which is somewhat rounded and can rise slightly above cue-height, although the back can be angled up at about 45°. Round e is found, the tongue horizontal or rising. The tongue of f is flat, and the hook branches from below cue-height and is quite angular. The top of g is flat, the mid-section is small and drops diagonally down and to the left from the centre, and the tail begins angled down and right, then curves back to the left, the tip hooked up slightly. The shoulders of m, n and r are fairly rounded, the down-strokes are vertical or, in the case of r, turned back in to the left before turning back out in a rising foot. Tall s is found throughout, the hook high and a wedge or barb at cue-height. The conventional distinction was followed between þ and ð. The back of ð is steep and starts at about 50° but turns up more or less to the vertical, and the through-stroke is sometimes hooked up on the left and is always hooked down on the right. Straight-limbed y was used, normally but not always dotted; the right branch is usually hooked left and the tail is straight or hooked right.