Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/452

 PALEOGRAPHY

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PALEOGRAPHY

the first line of a diploma is always in slender and elongated characters.

Sudi is the system of writing which, thanks to its simplicity and clearness, spread throughout the West, and everywliere, except in Ireland, took the place of the national writings of the barbarian period. In the tenth century it was, howe%er, less regular, and it be- came more slender in the eleventh century. The MSS. and ollicial documents are generally very carefully executed, the words are well separated, and abbrevi- ations are not yet very numerous. Beginning with Clement I\' (1046—18), the pontifical Chancery sub- stitutes this writing for the tillcra hoievvnlana; how- ever, until Paschal II (1099-lllS), the two systems were employed simultaneously. It was only in the latter pontificate period that the Carlovingian beearne the exclusive writing of the pontifical notaries, as it remained imtil the sixteenth century.

D. Gothic Period (twelfth to sixteenth century). — Gothic writing arose from the transformations of the Carlovingian minuscule, much as Gothic architecture is derived from Romanesque. The transition was at first imperceptible, and most of the MSS. of the first thirty years of the thirteenth century do not differ from those of the ])receding epoch. It is only notice- able that the letters thicken and assume a more robust appearance, and that abbreviations are more frequent. Soon changes are introduced: the regularity is more pronounced, curves are replaced by angles, the lower extremities of certain strokes are provided with more or less fine lines in the shape of hooks, which turn up to the right to join the next stroke; the upper curves of the letters ra and n are replaced by angles. Among the most ancient examples is a MS. copied at St. Mar- tin of Tournai in 110.5 (Paris. Bib. Nat., Lat. Nouv. 219.5, reproduced in Prou, "PalEeography",pl. VII, 1), and a charter of the Abbey of Anchin near Lille (be- tween 1115-20; Flammermont, "Album paleog. du nord de la France", pi. IV). On the mortuary roll of Bl. Vitalis, Abbot of Savigny (d. 1122), are found, among signatures collected in France and England, specimens of the new writing niiiifjlid willi the Car- lovingian minascule. Diplomatic writing follows an- cient tradition until the thirteenth century, and re- tains the elongated ascenders, which sometimes end in a more or less curled stroke. Nevertheless, as early as about 1 i;j the influence of Gothic writing was felt in the charters of the North, some of which are even written in the characters used in MSS. Among the most beautiful charters of this period may be men- tioned those of the papal Chancery ; in the twelfth cen- tury their writing had become simple, elegant, and clear.

At the end of the twelfth and during the thirteenth century the change in handwriting was more pro- nounced. MSS. and charters in the vulgar tongue are more and more numerous. Writing ceases to be a monastic art; it no longer possesses its former beauti- ful uniformity, and takes an inflividual character from the scribe. .Vbbreviations multiply; side by side with the elegantly shai)ed Gothic, miiui.'i?ule appears in official documents (registers, minutes, etc.) a smaller, more cursive writing, pointed and ligatured. The tendency diiring this period is to diminish the size and to thicken the letters. In luxuriously executed liturgi- cal books, however, large thick letters, termed "letters of form ", are used. This sort of letters persisted >inl il the sixteenth century and served as a model for the earliest type used in printing. Finally, the diplomatic writing used in charters disappears in the first part of the thirteenth century, but the writing of books takes on a cursive character. In the fourteenth century the writing of ordinary hooks becomes more and more .slenrler, angular, anrl compressed. The "letter of form" is reser\-ed for inscriptions, for copy- ing the Bible and liturgical books. The same charac- ters appear in official documents where cursive writing

becomes more and more frequent, not only in minutes and registers, but even in certified copies (expiditinns solentielles). It is evident that the scribes wrote more frequently and freed themselves from the ancient traditions. This transformation became still more pronounced in the fifteenth century, when Gothic writing took on a national character in the various countries of Europe. The writing of charters t hen be- came finer and more cursive, the letters are less care- fully formed and all joined together. At last printing, which spre.ad through the West about 14.50, fixed the characters then in use. The maju.scule letters, called capitals, used to begin sentences or jjroper names, are always borrowed from uncial or capital writing. Cursive writing was much employed, even for the copying of books. Moreover, according to the temperament of individual scribes, gradual transitions occur between the "letter of form" and the cursive. Such, e. g., is MS. 9242 of the Library of Brussels (Chronicle of Jacques dc Guise), dated 144li.

Abbreviations. — One of the chief ditlicultics in read- ing documents of the twelfth to the sixteenth (century is the frequency of abbreviations. This was carried to such an excess in official documents that some princes — e. g., Philip the Fair, by his ordinance of July, 1304 (Ordonnances des Roys de France, I, 417) — vainly endeavoured to restrain their use. Abbrevia- tions continued to multijily until the fifteenth century and they are found not only in manuscripts but .also in the greater number of printed bofiks previous to 1520. Happily, these abbreviations were not arbitra- rily conceived: their use followeil determined rules. Besides, each branch of learning had sjiccial abbrevia- tions for its technical terms. In writing the vernacu- lars — English, French, German, etc. — abbreviations were less numerous, and they followed the same rules as Latin abbreviations. These rules are reduced to a few essential principles.

(1) Abbreviation, by a sigla, or single letter, repre- sents the whole word of which it is the initial. The sigla is doubled to indicate tlic)ilural (D. N. for />i»(i- nus Noster;DD. NN. for /;.-///("( Xnsiri: FF. for Fro- Ires). In the pontifical charters of tliethirtccntli century occur:a.s. (apostolicascripla);e.m. (eumdcm rnodnm); f. u. (fraternitati vestrce). Siglas, which were fre- quently used in inscriptions, jvere less common in manuscripts and charters. Of rather frequent occur- rence are: e (est), S. {signum, "seal"), SS. {subscripsi}, i. (id est).

(2) Abbreviation by interior contraction consists in suppressing one letter or more in the interior of a word, the suppression being indicated by a horizontal line above the word^ (a) Suppression of vowels_ (the oldest used): Dns (Domimis) scs (sanctu.f), cps, epc (cpiscopus), sps (sinrUus). (b)_Suppression of a single vowel: aj^ (apud), fdt (fecit), ul (eel), (c) Retention of only the initial and final letters: pr (pater), mr (martyr), hi (hoc), (d) Contraction of the last .sylhi- ble, especially the termination unt: furrt (fucrunt) air (aliler), or^ (oratio); of the termination a lion in French: oblw^i (obligation). In Latin and French the final letters are always retained in substantives, adjectives, and adverbs.

(.3) A .small letter placed above a word indicates the suppression of one or several letters. A vowel written over another vowel indicates the initial letter and the termination. The consonants m, r, I placed above the line are used to indicate the terminations um, ur, it. ...

(4) Abbreviation by suspension consists in leaving the word unfinished; the omission being indicated by a stroke, which cuts through _4.:inv ascender thai may be in its way: „', (o«/c) SOl (.w//-/-«),j,..r....v-, (/«n.s- iensis), amar (amariiiit); in French, liruim {li<-ulni(iiit\. The syllable ram and the genitive plural terminal ions orum, arum, are abbreviated by the suppression of the last two letters; in this case the foot of the r is