Hand: Second Glossator (36r–39r, 68rv), CCCC 214
- Name
- Second Glossator (36r–39r, 68rv)
- Manuscript
- CCCC 214
- 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 hand is angular, quite heavy, and has a good deal of shading, but the formation of letters is irregular and the appearance messy. A form of Caroline a is normal with a back angled at about 45° and reaching above cue-height before turning to the horizontal, although this head can also be absent and the resultant letter more or less single-compartment. In one case, the head of a is very short, horizontal, and very high, turning into a vertical back which was written almost like an ascender. The back of the a-component of æ is angled, the left side of the body angled to the right, the tongue is horizontal, and the hook extends slightly above cue-height. Round c appears throughout, the hook short, and d has a long back angled at about 60°; Caroline d also appears in a vernacular context. Round e was used throughout with a fairly high hook and a horizontal tongue; a tall open e is also found in ligature with low s. The tongue of f is high, turns up at the right, and passes slightly left of the vertical which itself drops slightly below the base-line; the hook is high and angular, and the letter is therefore essentially Caroline. The top stroke of g is ~-shaped, and the mid-section descends at about 45° and turns sharply right before usually curving back in a nearly-closed loop; alternatively, the tail can finish with a concave-down stroke which rises sharply from the bottom and then turns towards the horizontal. Caroline h was used throughout. The shoulders of m, n, and r are all relatively angular, although Caroline r often appears and can be deeply split. Tall, essentially Caroline s was also used most often, although a low form appears once; the shoulder of tall s is thick and not unlike that of Style-IV Anglo-Caroline. The top of t is ~-shaped. The scribe used þ exclusively in preference to ð; the body of þ is triangular and can be slightly open. Bilinear x was used, as was straight-limbed dotted y, the left branch of which curves left and the right hooks left.