Hand: Addition Hand 3 (196v), BL Royal 2.B.v

Name

Addition Hand 3 (196v)

Manuscript

BL Royal 2.B.v

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

Winchester

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

This irregular hand is mostly backward-leaning, has a slightly rotund aspect, and was written in a light ink with some shading. Ascenders are long and either have poor wedges or are slightly split, and descenders are also long but taper and can turn left. Minims have approach-strokes and feet, but the tops of descenders terminate in the same way as ascenders. A rounded, single-compartment, two-stroke a is found throughout, the lower curve of the bowl often meeting the back well above the base-line. The same structure was used for æ, with a small hook within cue-height and a slightly concave-up tongue. Round c is also found throughout, although the hook is quite short and does not normally join smoothly with the lower stroke. The back of d varies in length, angle, and curvature, but is most often horizontal and fairly long, although it can also be concave down and can rise above cue-height. The body of e is more or less round, the tongue slopes upwards, and the hook often fails to meet the lower curve leaving a slightly open top; this lower curve sometimes reaches back up to join the tongue, and the tongue itself can be turned down or can join the following letter. Tall æ and e are entirely absent, even in ligature. The tongue of f can be short or quite long, and the hook branches from below cue-height. The mid-section of g has a slightly bulging curve to the left, then an almost horizontal component which extends beyond the right of the top-stroke, and finally a diagonal stroke which curves back up to close the tail. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all quite round and branch from low on the vertical strokes, although they are not bulging; n often has an approach-stroke which joins the preceding letter, and r has a relatively large foot. The two strokes of o often fail to join smoothly. Long s is found initially and before c and t, and low s finally; the brevity of the text is such that it contains no medial s except for those before c or t. The hooks of r and low s branch from close to the base-line. The conventional distinction was apparently followed between ð and þ, since the former was used only in final position and the latter only initially; however, once again, the nature of the text is such that ð only appears once. The back of this letter is thick and slightly concave down with a downward-curving through-stroke. Straight dotted y is found, the right branch hooked left and the tail hooked right. The top of 7 is angled up, and the descender is vertical but turns slightly left. The only Latin word iulius which was written in Insular script.