the south which have been just noticed; and from its ruggedness and slow development German MSS. have the appearance of being older than they really are. The writing has also very commonly a certain slope in the letters which compares unfavourably with the upright and elegant hands of other countries. In western Europe generally the minuscule hand thus nationalized ran its course down to the time of the invention of printing, when the so-called black letter, or set hand of the 15th century in Germany and other countries, furnished models for the types. But in Italy, with the revival of learning, a more refined taste set in in the production of MSS., and scribes went back to an earlier time in search of a better standard of writing. Hence, in the first quarter of the 15th century, MSS. written on the lines of the Italian hand of the early 12th century begin to appear, and become continually more numerous. This revived hand was brought to perfection soon after the middle of the century, just at the right moment to be adopted by the early Italian printers, and to be perpetuated by them in their types.
English Cursive Charter-Hands.—It must also not be forgotten that by the side of the book-hand of the later middle ages there was the cursive hand of everyday use. This is represented in abundance in the large mass of charters and legal or domestic documents which remains. Some notice has already been taken of the development of the national cursive hands in the earliest times. From the 12th century downwards these hands settled into well defined and distinct styles peculiar to different countries, and passed through systematic changes which can be recognized as characteristic of particular periods. But, while the cursive hand thus followed out its own course, it was still subject to the same laws of change which governed the book-hand; and the letters of the two styles did not differ at any period in their organic formation. Confining our attention to the charter-hand, or court-hand, practised in England, a few specimens may be taken to show the principal changes which it developed. In the 12th century the official hand which had been introduced after the Norman Conquest is characterized by exaggeration in the strokes above and below the line, a legacy of the old Roman cursive, as already noted. There is also a tendency to form the tops of tall vertical strokes, as in b, h, l, with a notch or cleft. The letters are well made and vigorous, though often rugged.
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| Fig. 47.—Charter of Stephen, A.D. 1136–1139. | |||
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As the century advances, the long limbs are brought into better proportion; and early in the 13th century a very delicate fine-stroked hand comes into use, the cleaving of the tops being now a regular system, and the branches formed by the cleft falling in a curve on either side. This style remains the writing of the reigns of John and Henry III.
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| Fig. 48.—Charter of Henry III., A.D. 1259. | |||
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Towards the latter part of the 13th century the letters grow rounder; there is generally more contrast of light and heavy strokes; and the cleft tops begin, as it were, to shed the branch on the left.
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| Fig. 49.—Charter of Edward I., A.D. 1303. | |||
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In the 14th century the changes thus introduced make further progress, and the round letters and single-branched vertical strokes become normal through the first half of the century. Then, however, the regular formation begins to give way and angularity sets in. Thus in the reign of Richard II. we have a hand presenting a mixture of round and angular elements—the letters retain their breadth but lose their curves. Hence, by further decadence, results the angular hand of the 15th century, at first compact, but afterwards straggling and ill-formed.
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| Fig. 50.—English Charter, A.D. 1457. | |||
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In concluding these remarks on the medieval cursive English writing, it is only necessary to remind the reader that the modern English cursive hand owes its origin to the general introduction into the west of the fine round Italian cursive hand of the 16th century—one of the notable legacies bequeathed to us by the wonderful age of the Renaissance.
Bibliography.—General (Greek and Latin): J. Astle, The Origin and Progress of Writing (1803); E. M. Thompson, Handbook of Greek and Roman Palaeography (3rd ed., 1906); J. B. Silvestre, Paléographie universelle (1839–1841; and Eng. ed., 1850); Palaeographical Society, Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions (two series, 1873–1883, 1884–1894); New Palaeographical Society, Facsimiles of Ancient MSS., &c. (1903, &c.); Vitelli and Paoli, Collezione fiorentina di facsimili paleografici greci e latini (1884–1897); Westwood, Palaeographia sacra pictoria (1843–1845); F. G. Kenyon, Facsimiles of Biblical MSS. in the British Museum (1900).
Greek Palaeography: B. de Montfaucon, Palaeographia graeca (1708); V. Gardthausen, Griechische Palaeographie (1879); W. Wattenbach, Anleitung zur griechischen Palaeographie (1895); F. G. Kenyon, The Palaeography of Greek Papyri (1899); N. Schow, Charta papyracea graece scripta musei Borgiani Velitris (1788); A. Peyron, Papyri graeci regii taur. mus. Aegypti (1826–1827); J. Forshall, Greek Papyri in the British Museum (1839); C. Leemans, Papyri Graeci Mus. Lugd. Bat. (1843, 1885); C. Babington, The Orations of Hyperides for Lycophron and for Euxenippus (1853), and The Funeral Oration of Hyperides over Leosthenes (1858); W. Brunet de Presle, “Notices et textes des papyrus grecs du Musée du Louvre,” &c. [tom. xviii. of Notices et extraits des MSS. de la Bibl. Imp.] (1865); J. Karabacek, Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer (1886), and Führer durch die Ausstellung (1894); C. Wessely, Corpus papyrorum Raineri (1895, &c.); J. P. Mahaffy, On the Flinders-Petrie Papyri (1891–1905); U. Wilcken, Tafeln zur älteren griechischen Palaeographie (1891), Griechische Urkunden (1892, &c.), Griechische Ostraka (1895), and Archiv für Papyrusforschung (1900, &c.); F. G. Kenyon, Greek Papyri in the British Museum (1893–1906), Greek Classical Texts from Papyri in the British Museum (1891, 1892), Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens (1892), and The Poems of Bacchylides (1898); E. Revillout, Le Playdoyer d’Hypéride contre Athénogène (1892); Grenfell and Mahaffy, The Revenue Laws of Ptolemy Philadelphus (1896); J. Nicole, Les Papyrus de Genève (1896, &c.); Grenfell and Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (1898, &c.), Fayûm Towns (1900), The Amherst Papyri (1900, 1901), and The Tebtunis Papyri (1902, &c.); C. Wessely, Papyrorum scripturae graecae specimina (1900); U. von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, Der Timotheus-Papyrus (1903); H. Diels, Berliner Klassikertexte (1904, &c.); G. Vitelli, Papiri fiorentini (1905, &c.); T. Reinach, Papyrus grecs et démotiques (1905); Sabas, Specim. palaeogr. codd. graec. et slav. (1863); W. Wattenbach, Schrifttafeln zur Geschichte der griech. Schrift (1876),
