Hand: Main Hand 2 (9r–20r, 22v–32v), BL Cotton Tiberius A.xiii, fols. 1–118

Name

Main Hand 2 (9r–20r, 22v–32v)

Manuscript

BL Cotton Tiberius A.xiii, fols. 1–118

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

G.366 Scribe 2. saec. xi1/4

Date

Saec. xi1/4

Place

Worcester

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

The scribe wrote a fairly regular script with a medium-width pen and a reasonable amount of shading. Ascenders are usually longer than minims but can be as long as them and are fairly straight with small wedges. Descenders are straight, tapering slightly, and longer than minims. Minims are slightly forward-leaning and have small approach-strokes and horizontal feet. Teardrop-shaped a was used with a vertical back, although Caroline a and æ are also found particularly in the name-element æþel. The teardrop form was also used in æ, although the back of the e-component can be rounded; the tongue is rising and the hook rounded and slightly above cue-height even when not in ligature. True tall-æ ligatures are uncommon but are found before t (æt, 15v9; hwæte twice on 17v12). Round c was used throughout. The back of d is long, angled at about 45–60° and vertical-tipped. Round e was used with a long, thin, rising tongue and a round hook. Tall-e ligatures were not found except on 20r where they appear regularly but are very clumsy and inconsistently formed; they were probably therefore copied from the exemplar. The tongue of f is short and concave up. The top of g is long and horizontal, the mid-section usually hangs from the left and is relatively compressed vertically, but the stroke extends horizontally across the full width of the letter before curving into a large, round, nearly-closed loop; alternatively the mid-section can hang from close to the centre and angle down and left before turning sharply at the baseline; later on in the scribe’s stint he wrote g with an open tail which is ~-shaped at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are quite rounded, that of r turning back to the left before turning back out with the slightly downward-angled foot. Long s is found before t and wynn; it barely extends below the base-line and has a very large rounded hook at ascender-height. Low s is found elsewhere and has a somewhat angular hook branching at close to the base-line. The conventional distinction was followed between þ and ð. The body of ð is much like that of d, and the through-stroke is short and turns down at the right. Straight-limbed dotted y was used, the right branch of which is hooked left and the tail hooked right. The top of 7 is flat but hooked up on the left, and the downstroke is vertical. Latin script is Style-I Anglo-Caroline.