Hand: Main Hand, CUL Gg.3.28 (1493)

Name: Main Hand
Manuscript: CUL Gg.3.28 (1493)
Script: Unspecified
Scribe: Unspecified
Date: Saec. x/xi
Place: Cerne

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

This hand is small and light but laid out quite densely on the page. Ascenders are equal to or longer than minims and are quite straight with small wedges or approach-strokes; descenders are proportionally shorter but still usually longer than minims and are quite straight. Minims are fairly vertical and have prominent approach-strokes and feet. Teardrop-shaped a is normal, but a straight rising top of a was also used infrequently in ligature with a preceding letter. A rounded but essentially teardrop-shaped æ is normal, but horned flat-topped æ is also found sometimes (spræcon, cwæð, both 225v15). Both e and the second component of æ are normally squinting and have long, straight, rising tongues. A bulging æ is found in ligature, most frequently in æt but occasionally elsewhere as well (e.g. ðære, 255r30); in this case, the tongue is at cue-height and the loop rises almost a minim-height. Round e was used most frequently, the tongue of which is turned up when in final position. Round c and bilinear d also appear throughout. The mid-section of g hangs from close to the centre of the top-stroke but extends well to the left before curving around fairly sharply rightward and slightly downward, and the tail is fairly wide, very open, and angled diagonally down but turned up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are relatively angular and often turn back in towards the preceding stroke. Low, long and round s all appear; the round form was used infrequently, as was the tall form except before t where it is normal. The tail of final t can be turned up. The scribe seemed to prefer ð in the body of the text and þ after punctus and in the abbreviation for þæt, although this principle was by no means strictly followed. The back of ð is long, turns up at the tip, and has a short through-stroke which is turned down at the right and which does not always extend through the back-stroke. Straight-limbed, dotted y appears throughout. Bilinear z is also found. Latin text was not distinguised from Old English by script except for the forms of abbreviation and for a bulging c+t ligature which was used throughout the Latin.