Hand: Hand 2 (verso, ll. 1–12), BL Additional 61735

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

This scribe wrote a small script with a thin pen held fairly flat. The aspect is similar to G.302.2-1 but the letters are smaller, more regular, less rounded, and closer in these respects to Phase-IV Square minuscule. The aspect is also very reminiscent of hands associated with Archbishop Wulfstan. The scribe wrote three records which appear together on the leaf but were probably written at slightly different times, since the script of the second record has less pen-lift than that of the first and third. Ascenders vary but are approximately the length of minims. Descenders are about the same length and are straight, although they can lean back to the left. Minims have small approach-strokes and small horizontal feet. The body of a is usually teardrop-shaped with a narrow pointed top and a near-vertical but slightly concave back, although the letter can be more rounded. Flat-topped a is sometimes found in in e+a and g+a ligatures (healf, line 8; sealde, twice in line 2; hogga in lines 3 and 5). One example of what looks like cc a is found (healf, line 10), but close inspection of the manuscript reveals that this is a blemish in the parchment rather than a hook on the upper right shoulder of a. as are Teardrop-shaped and flat-topped a-components are also found in æ, although the flat-topped form has a convex left side. The tongue of æ is close to cue-height, and the hook is always tall even when not in ligature but is never bulging. Round c was used throughout. The back of d is thick, angled at about 70–80°, and fairly straight but turned up slightly at the tip. The back of e is always upright but never horned, the tongue is horizontal, and the hook usually turns back in slightly to the left, except that the tall form like that of æ was used in ligature with a following letter whenever possible. The tongue and hook of f are both short. The top of g is flat, the mid-section is quite angular and hangs from the far right, and the tail is angled down at about 50° and is hooked up at the tip; the letter is therefore somewhat 3 or zig-zag shaped. The scribe wrote h, m, and n with very little or no penlift in the second record, but in other cases they and r show somewhat rounded shoulders which branch from just below cue-height. Long and low s were both used, the former twice in the word swina (lines 1 and 4) and the latter elsewhere. The conventional distinction was followed between þ and ð. The back of ð is not especially long but is straight and angled at about 60°, and the through-stroke is long, straight, fairly steep, fairly thick, and has a slight downward hook on the right. The upper branches of x are hooked down and the lower branches hooked up except when the letter appears twice in a row as a numeral: in this case the lower left branches are long, and the upper right branch of the first letter becomes the first, left-right stroke of the second. Straight-limbed y was used, normally with a dot and with a straight left branch and straight tail, but once it has no dot, a left branch curved left, and a tail curved down; in both cases the right branch is hooked right. The top of 7 is wide and usually flat but can be slightly concave up, and the down-stroke is straight but angled slightly left.