Hand: Main Hand, BL Cotton Nero E.i, vol. ii fols. 185–6

Name: Main Hand
Manuscript: BL Cotton Nero E.i, vol. ii fols. 185–6
Script: Unspecified
Scribe: Unspecified
Date: Saec. x/xi
Place: Unknown (Worces or York?)

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

The thick pen, broad bodies, and relatively short ascenders and descenders give the script the aspect of late Square minuscule. The overall appearance is slightly messy, partly because of the large number of letters which rise above cue-height. Ascenders are approximately equal to minims in length, and descenders are thick, straight, and relatively short. The scribe seems to have tried to add wedges to the ascenders but the resultant forms are normally forked. Minims have wedges or forks on top and rising ticks for feet. A variety of forms of a is found, including horned, concave, or convex on the left; all of these are more or less flat-topped, although a well-formed rotund single-compartment a can also be found. The same range of forms is found in æ, but the e-component forms a high ligature with the following letter whenever possible; the hook in this ligature is bulging and turns back slightly to the left when joined to descenders, minims, a, or o, but is lower and does not turn back with g or t. Round c is found throughout, the lower stroke of which is long, diagonal, and fairly straight, and the hook is short and fairly horizontal. Round d is found, the back of which shows some variation in angle and length. The back of e is always horned to a greater or lesser degree, the tongue is horizontal and just below cue-height, and the loop is above cue-height and forms ligatures like æ. The tongue of f is long, flat, and on the base-line. The tail of g is open and horizontal, the mid-section bulges slightly and hangs just to the left of the top-stroke, and the size of the hook varies but is always vertically compressed. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are smooth and do not bulge at all, the strokes rise slightly to cue-height, and the first stroke of each letter often lacks a foot. The descender of r is shorter than on other letters, and the shoulder is often angular but can be rotund. All three forms of s appear, but low s is much more frequent. Long s appears only before t and wynn, in which case the loop reaches down and almost touches the following letter looking almost like the hook in a tall-e ligature; in two cases, such a ligature is indeed formed (185v5 and 185v21). The toe of t is curved up. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was mostly followed, although majuscule Ð was always used in preference to Þ. The back of ð is relatively long, thick, and straight, the cross-stroke is low and thick, and the ascender of þ is often shorter than for other letters. Both strokes of u have wedges, wynn is quite angular, and x has a long thin stroke in the south-west quadrant. Round and straight-limbed dotted y is found throughout, and the tip of the straight tail is hooked right. The top of 7 is flat and rises slightly, and the descender is angled slightly leftwards.