Hand: Hand 1 (recto, ll. 1–18), BL Additional 61735

Name

Hand 1 (recto, ll. 1–18)

Manuscript

BL Additional 61735

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1/4

Place

Ely

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

This hand is relatively neat and consistent, if low-grade, is forward-leaning, and was written with a thin pen and little shading. Ascenders are thin, long, and have heavy wedges or splits, and descenders are long and straight. Minims are relatively straight but forward-leaning and show approach-strokes and prominent feet. Single-compartment a appears throughout; it is essentially teardrop-shaped but can be more rotund, and the top is formed in one stroke with the back. The same structure also appears in æ, the eye of which can be small and within cue-height or can form a tall loop in ligature which is normally closed but can be open. A similar range of forms can be found for e, the back of which is vertical and always horned, and the tongue of final e is extended in a long, waving, tapering stroke. Tall æ and e appear regularly before a descender and are particularly common before low s in the ‑es ending, as in G.52-1. Round c is found throughout, and d normally has a short straight back angled at about 45°, although it can be longer and vertical-tipped. The tongue of f is normally long and flat, although it can taper and can pass to the left of the vertical. The body of g is quite angular: the mid-section is angled at about 45° down and left and then curves around to be almost horizontal, and the tail curves back at close to 45° once again before turning up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r all branch from well below cue-height, are angled upwards, and then turn down in a sharper or more rounded curve. Low, tall and round s are all found: tall before t or wynn, round infrequently (hys, line 3; sealde, line 5; scip, line 8; scipa, line 11; seabbu [sic], line 15, isene, insertion above line 16), and low elsewhere. The top of tall s tends to bulge slightly out to the right before turning into a relatively large head, and the down-stroke tapers slightly below the base-line. Low s is deeply split, and round s has a small angular upper loop but is not backward-leaning or laterally extended at all. The toe of t is sometimes turned up. The scribe mostly followed the conventional distinction between þ and ð (but ðæm, wyþ). The back of ð is long, thick, and straight, although it can be vertical-tipped, and the through-stroke is quite short but has a thick, prominent down-stroke added to the right. Straight-limbed dotted y appears throughout, the longer stroke of which can be quite short and can be turned down at the tip, and the upper right branch is hooked left. Bilinear x is found as a numeral, in which it is offset before and after by punctus at mid-height, but x has a long south-west branch when used as a letter. The top of 7 is angled upwards very slightly, and the descender is angled slightly left.