Hand: First Rubricator (40r), Bodleian Bodley 572 (2026), fols. 26–40

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

The two rubrics were written by a mostly neat but somewhat irregular hand, with a pen of medium width and shading. The tips of ascenders have been cut off in the first rubric, and only one letter has an ascender in the second, but the surviving evidence suggests that they were long, straight, and with a small wedge. Descenders are also long and straight, often extending further than a minim’s length. Minims themselves are straight, slightly forward-leaning, and with small approach-strokes and feet. The body of a was somewhat clumsily formed: the top bulges up slightly but was written in the same stroke as the back, both of which are quite thick, and the left and bottom were formed with a single curving stroke; the result is therefore somewhere between rotund and flat-topped. The a-component of æ, in contrast, is rounded but essentially teardrop-shaped, the hook rising slightly above cue-height and the tongue long, straight, and rising. No c is found, and d has a short, thick back angled at about 45°. Horned e is found throughout except when joined to preceding g or t, and has a long straight rising tongue and a low but angular hook which rises slightly above cue-height. The tongue of f is long, flat, and almost at mid-height, and the hook is low and angular. The single example of g has a long, flat top, an open mid-section which hangs from the centre of the top-stroke, does not bulge much to the left but swings well to the right before turning sharply back in an open, vertically-compressed hook turned up slightly at the tip. Although h is not found in the text, the shoulders of m, n, and r are all quite similar: they begin below cue-height, rise at about 30–40°, and then turn fairly sharply into a straight down-stroke which can be vertical or angled slightly in to the left before turning out in a horizontal foot; the foot of r is no larger than that of m or n. Only one example of s is found, which has the low form. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was followed in six of the seven examples (Cweð, þis, þe, gedæleð, freoð, but ðone). The back of ð is long, thick, fairly straight, and seems to finish abruptly without any tapering or turn, as far as can be determined from what survives; the through-stroke has a prominent downward hook on the right.