Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/176

 160 PALAEOGRAPHY ., pt. ii., pi. 24) ; and a very interesting MS. written in the Wessex style is the Digby MS. 03 of the middle of the century (Pal. Soc., pi. 168). As seen in the charters, the pointed writing of the 10th century assumes generally a larger size, and is rather more artificial and calligraphic. A very beautiful example of the book-hand of this period is found in the volume known as the Durham llitual (Pal. Soc., pi. 240), which, owing to the care bestowed on the writing and the archaism of the style, might at first sight pass for a MS. of higher antiquity, were not the character istics of its period evident in the angularity of certain letters. In the latter part of the 10th century the foreign set minuscule hand began to make its way into England, consequent on increased intercourse with the Continent and political changes which followed. In the charters we find the foreign and native hands on the same page: the body of the document, in Latin, in Caroline minuscules ; the boundaries of the land conveyed, in the English hand. The same practice was followed in books. The charter (in book form) of King Eadgar to New Minster, Winchester, 966 A.D. (Pal. 8oc., pis. 46, 47), the Benedictional of Bishop /Ethel wold of Winchester (pis. 142, 144) before 984 A.D., and the MS. of the Office of the Cross, 1012-20 A.D. (pi. 60), also written in Winchester, are all examples of the use of the foreign minuscule for Latin. The change also which the national hand underwent at this period may certainly be attributed to this foreign influence. The pointed hand, strictly so-called, is replaced by a rounder or rather square character, with lengthened strokes above and below the line. fiepcerm - arr pcelfcDt7e p uTTDirm English Minuscules, llth century. (manan he waes his msega. sceard freonda ge fylled on folcstede beslfegen aet s^cge. and his sunu forlaet. on wselstowe wnndum forgrunden. ) This style of writing becomes the ordinary English hand down to the time of the Norman Conquest. That event extinguished the national hand for official purposes it disappears from charters ; and the already established use of the Caroline minuscule in Latin MSS. completed its exclusion as the handwriting of the learned. It cannot, however, be doubted that it still lingered in those parts of the country where foreign influence did not at once pene trate, and that Englishmen still continued to write their own language in their own style of writing. But that the earlier distinctive national hand was soon overpowered by- foreign teaching is evident in English MSS. of the 12th century, the writing of which is of the foreign type, although the English letter thorn, b, survived and continued in use down to the 15th century, when it was transformed to y. The Caroline Reform. The revival of learning under Charlemagne naturally led to a reform in handwriting. An ordinance of the year 79 required the revision of church books ; and a more correct orthography and style of writing was the consequence. The abbey of St Martin of Tours was the principal centre from whence the reforma tion of the book-hand spread. Here, from the year 796 to 804, Alcuin of York presided as abbot ; and it was under his direction that the Caroline minuscule writing took the simple and graceful form which was gradually adopted to the exclusion of all other hands. In carrying out this reformation we may well assume that Alcuin brought to bear the results of the training which he had received in his youth in the English school of writing, which had attained to such proficiency, and that he was also benefici ally influenced by the fine examples of the Lombard school which he had seen in Italy. In the new Caroline minus cule all the uncouthness of the later Merovingian hand disappears, and the simpler forms of many of the letters found in the old Roman minuscule hand are adopted. The character of Caroline writing through the 9th and early part of the 10th century is one of general uniformity, with a contrast of light and heavy strokes, the limbs of tall letters being clubbed or thickened at the head by pressure on the pen. As to characteristic letters the a, following the old type, is, in the 9th century, still fre quently open, in the form of u ; the bows of g are open, the letter somewhat resembling the numeral 3 ; and there is no turning of the ends of letters, as m and n. u.ocL Caroline Minuscules, 9th century. (accipere mariam coniu^em tuam quod enini ex ea nascetur de spm &amp;lt;u sancto est. Pariet autem filium et uocabis uomen eius lesMin) In the 10th century the clubbingof the tall letters becomes less pronounced, and the writing generally assumes, so to say, a thinner appearance. But a great change is notice able in the writing of the llth century. By this time the Caroline minuscule may be said to have put off its archaic form and to develop into the more modern character of small letter. It takes a more finished and accurate and more upright form, the individual letters being drawn with much exactness, and generally on a rather larger scale than before. This style continues to improve, and is reduced to a still more exact form of calligraphy in the 12th century, which for absolute beauty of writing is unsur passed. In England especially, the writing of this century is particularly fine. fitm English Minuscules, 12th century. ( culos cim aruinulis suis adoleuit super altare uitulu??i cum pelle et carnibus et fimo cvemans extra castra sicut preceperat dominus) As, however, the demand for written works increased, the fine round hand of the 12th century could not be maintained. Economy of material became necessary, and a smaller hand with more frequent contractions was the result. The larger and more distinct writing of the llth and 12th centuries is now replaced by a more cramped though still distinct hand, in which the letters are more linked together by connecting strokes, and are more later ally compressed. This style of writing is characteristic of the 13th century. But, while the book-hand of this period is a great advance upon that of a hundred years earlier, there is no tendency to a cursive style. Every letter is clearly formed, and generally on the old shapes. The particular letters which show weakness are those made of a succession of vertical strokes, as m, n, u. The new method of connecting these strokes, by turning the ends and running on, made the distinction of such letters