Uncial book hand, Livy, 5th century; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Lat. 5730).Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
From the 4th to the early 7th century, most Christian books—biblical, patristic, and liturgical—were written in the uncial script, and even for pagan literature uncial almost entirely superseded rustic capitals. It survived the collapse of the Roman book trade. And, after the 6th century, when the production of all books, pagan as well as Christian, was taken over by the church—notably by the monasteries, such as the Vivarium founded in southern Italy by Cassiodorus, a scholar whose aim was to perpetuate Roman culture, and the houses that observed the Rule of St. Benedict—uncial script survived in many centres, especially for biblical and liturgical texts, down to the 9th century. Thereafter, like rustic capitals, uncials were used only for titles, and they, too, disappeared in the 12th century.
uncial and half uncialUncial and half uncial calligraphy.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The younger of the two new book hands is called half uncial. This script was less popular than uncials and never broke their monopoly on biblical and liturgical texts, although, like uncial script, half uncial was still being written in the 8th century and even, as a display script, in the 9th century. Half uncial differs from early uncial script in its minuscule appearance; only one letter (N) remained more or less unchanged from the capital form. The distinguishing letter forms in half uncial are a, b, d, g, h, l, m, r, and s. There was no attempt to confine letters between a single pair of lines, as they had gained distinctive ascenders and descenders.
Half uncial Roman book hand, De bello Judaico (“The Jewish War”), attributed to Hegesippus, 5th–6th century; in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (C.105 inf.).Courtesy of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
The new business hand of the 4th century and after is known as cursive minuscule. Like cursive capitals, it was written with a pointed pen, but the pen was held more or less straight. It uses basically the same letter forms as half uncials, although the frequency in cursive minuscule of ligatures between letters tends to conceal the fundamental likeness between the two hands.
The letter forms that distinguish cursive minuscule and half uncials from rustic and cursive capitals and from uncials were developed during the obscure period between the 1st and 4th centuries. The question of whether these forms developed in the sphere of the book hands or of the business hands is still undecided, but, whatever their origin, their importance for the subsequent history of European handwriting is paramount. They provided the material on which the Carolingian minuscule, which first appeared in the late 8th century, was based, and that script (including its modifications) dominated Europe until the end of the Middle Ages. Only in one other period were new letter forms evolved, between the 13th and the 15th centuries, in the group of scripts known as Gothic cursives; and the influence of these late innovations was ultimately canceled out, thanks to the revival of Carolingian minuscule in a pure form by the Italian humanists at the beginning of the 15th century.
Cursive minuscule, Avitus of Vienne, 6th century; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Lat. 8913 and 8914).Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
T. Julian Brown
Robert Williams
The Anglo-Celtic and other “national” styles (5th to 13th century)
From the 5th century the relaxation of imperial Roman authority brought on a reassertion and growth of native cultures—that is, wherever the people were not wholly occupied in a savage struggle for mere existence against aggressive tribes migrating across Europe (e.g., Avars, Slavs, and Saxons). The most isolated places, such as the province of Britain, responded strongly to this opportunity and at the same time were able to conserve important elements of Roman civilization. Ireland, which was never under occupation by the legions, offered during Europe’s darkest age comparative peace and shelter for the development of the richest and most original of book styles.
The Insular manuscripts were produced at isolated and inaccessible monasteries. According to tradition, the earliest centre of Christian learning in Ireland was established by St. Patrick (fl. 5th century). A great successor, Columba" class="md-crosslink">St. Columba, or Columcille, whom legend credits with divine scribal powers, founded monastic houses at Derry and Durrow and then journeyed to the Inner Hebrides to found one on the lonely island of Iona in about 563. St. Columban, another Irish missionary, in much the same period was founding monasteries on the Continent: about 590 in Gaul (modern France) the Burgundian centre Luxeuil, from which Corbie in Picardy was organized, and St. Gall in Switzerland and Bobbio in Italy (about 612 to 614). From Iona a daughter house was founded in 635 on St. Cuthbert’s holy isle of Lindisfarne just off the Northumbrian coast of England. To the south the Northumbrian monk, later abbot and saint, Benedict Biscop established the twin monasteries of St. Peter at Wearmouth in 674 and St. Paul at Jarrow in 682. He endowed them with splendid collections of books and pictures gathered during repeated visits to Rome, so that, in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, they constituted the most flourishing centre of Christian scholarship in western Europe and the meeting place of Hiberno-British and continental influences.
Insular calligraphyInsular calligraphy.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
For the fine books made in the Anglo-Celtic centres, the majuscular script called Insular half uncial was deemed suitable rather than the pointed, more cursive Irish minuscule used for documents and vernacular texts. There is a high degree of conformity, attesting to their stylistic maturity, among such manuscripts as the Book of Kells (Trinity College, Dublin) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (British Museum, London), individual as they are in detail and ornament. After all, there is room for infinite variation where, in one-quarter of a square inch, 158 interlacements have been traced unerringly—by angels, it was said. The Book of Kells, Codex Cenannensis to paleographers, was probably produced at Iona around 800. It has 339 leaves, 13 by 10 inches (33 by 25 cm) of dignified script in single column, jet black on well-made parchment, through which runs the most spirited and colourful of ornamentation, ranging from the red-dotted outlining of letters, which is as much a feature of the style as the wedge-topped ascenders, to the extravagant full-page initials at the opening of Gospels. The other masterpiece of Anglo-Celtic calligraphy and illumination, the Codex Lindisfarnensis, was written in honour of St. Cuthbert shortly after his death in 687. It displays the same lively inventiveness, the love of fantastic animal and bird forms (zoomorphs), intricate interlacing, and even, rhythmic script, set off by generous margins.
Insular script from the Lindisfarne Gospels, Hiberno-Saxon, c. 700; in the British Library, London (Cotton Nero D. IV).Reproduced by permission of the British Library