Hand: Account of the Gods (238v), BnF latin 7585

Name

Account of the Gods (238v)

Manuscript

BnF latin 7585

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

Unknown (CaA?)

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

This scribe wrote with a thin pen and very little shading. The hand is fairly regular, with a relatively uniform cue-height and upright appearance. Ascenders are long, straight, and have small or no wedges, descenders are slightly shorter and are either straight or turned very slightly left, and minims have pointed wedges and relatively large curving feet. The shape of a varies somewhat but is essentially Caroline: the back is thick and turned over at the top, and the bowl is thinner and sometimes meets the top of the back-stroke but more often meets it slightly below. An oc a is also found in ligature with preceding r (dradlice, 238v12), much like that found in Style-I Anglo-Caroline associated with Bishop Æthelwold, except that the r here is Insular. The same shaped bowl was used for æ, but the a-component lacks a head, and so the form is teardrop-shaped; the e-component normally has a small hook and a straight rising tongue, but a slightly clumsy tall form was also used. The back of d is round and short, angled at about 30–40°. Round e was used throughout, with a round hook and a straight rising tongue. The tongue of f is long, thin, and flat on the base-line, usually reaching forward to the following letter. The tail of g descends from the right of the upper stroke, curves out to the left then back to the right before sweeping around in a closed, somewhat oblong loop. The lower right branch of k curves reaches down to the base-line with a long ~-shaped stroke, and the upper branch curves upwards. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all rounded but the minims are straight and vertical. The descenders of r, þ, and long s are shorter than those of other letters. Long and low s were both used, low normally final and long elsewhere. Long s has a long hook which reaches over the following letters, and forms a fairly narrow ligature with following t. The conventional distinction was followed between þ and ð, and the back of ð is long and straight or slightly concave down, sometimes with a slight downward hook at the tip, and with a long thin rising through-stroke which usually lacks a hook. Straight-limbed dotted y is found throughout, the left branch curves left, the right branch is hooked left, and the tail is thin and straight. The top of 7 is long, well above cue-height, and either flat or somewhat ~-shaped; the descender is long and curves slightly left.