Editing Palaeography (section)

== Latin ==
{{further|History of the Latin script}}
{{See also|Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum}}

Attention should be drawn at the outset to certain fundamental definitions and principles of the science. The original characters of an alphabet are modified by the material and the implements used. When stone and chisel are discarded for papyrus and reed-pen, the hand encounters less resistance and moves more rapidly. This leads to changes in the size and position of the letters, and then to the joining of letters, and, consequently, to altered shapes. We are thus confronted at an early date with quite distinct types. The majuscule style of writing, based on two parallel lines, '''ADPL''', is opposed to the minuscule, based on a system of four lines, with letters of unequal height, '''adpl'''. Another classification, according to the care taken in forming the letters, distinguishes between the set book-hand and the cursive script. The difference in this case is determined by the subject matter of the text; the writing used for books (''{{lang|la|scriptura libraria}}'') is in all periods quite distinct from that used for letters and documents (''{{lang|la|epistolaris}}'', ''{{lang|la|diplomatica}}''). While the set book-hand, in majuscule or minuscule, shows a tendency to stabilise the forms of the letters, the cursive, often carelessly written, is continually changing in the course of years and according to the preferences of the writers.

This being granted, a summary survey of the morphological history of the [[Latin alphabet]] shows the zenith of its modifications at once, for its history is divided into two very unequal periods, the first dominated by majuscule and the second by minuscule writing.<ref name="Bouar">The contents of the following sections on {{small caps|Latin palaeography}}—especially the parts relating to "Minuscule writing"—are mainly based on the specialist writings consulted and cited throughout the text, from the following sources: primarily the article on ''Latin handwriting'' by French palaeographist A. de Bouard, present {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Palaeography#Latin Writing I |display=Palaeography § Latin Writing |volume=20 |pages=556&ndash;579 see pages 567 to 573}}; the requisite [http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/ingles.php?d=LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf ''Fonts for Latin Palaeography – User's manual''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911175229/http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/ingles.php?d=LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf |date=11 September 2017 }}, by Juan-Jose Marcos, 2011; Schiapparelli, ''La scrittura latina nell'età romana'', 1921; Giorgio Cencetti, ''Paleografia latina'', Jouvence, 2002; [[Bernhard Bischoff]], ''Paleografia latina. Antichità e Medioevo'', Antenore, 2000 (Ital. ed.); [[Edward Maunde Thompson]], ''An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography, cit.''  These two introductory paragraphs are directly quoted from the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]].</ref>

=== Overview ===
[[Jean Mabillon]], a French Benedictine monk, scholar and [[Antiquarian|antiquary]], whose work ''{{lang|la|De re diplomatica}}'' was published in 1681, is widely regarded as the founder of the twin disciplines of palaeography and [[diplomatics]]. However, the actual term "palaeography" was coined (in Latin) by [[Bernard de Montfaucon]], a [[Benedictine monk]], in the title of his ''Palaeographia Graeca'' (1708), which remained a standard work in the specific field of Greek palaeography for more than a century.<ref>Bernard de Montfaucon et al., ''Palaeographia Graeca, sive, De ortu et progressu literarum graecarum'', Paris, Ludovicum Guerin (1708).</ref> With their establishment of palaeography, Mabillon and his fellow Benedictines were responding to the Jesuit [[Daniel Papebroch]], who doubted the authenticity of some of the documents which the Benedictines offered as credentials for the authorisation of their monasteries.<ref>Bruce M. Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament'' Fourth Edition (Oxford University, 2005), p. 206.</ref> In the 19th century such scholars as [[Wilhelm Wattenbach]], [[Leopold Delisle]] and [[Ludwig Traube (palaeographer)|Ludwig Traube]] contributed greatly to making palaeography independent from diplomatic. In the 20th century, the "New French School" of palaeographers, especially [[Jean Mallon]], gave a new direction to the study of scripts by stressing the importance of ductus (the shape and order of the strokes used to compose letters) in studying the historical development of scripts.<ref name=fn_2>R. Marichal, "Paleography" in New Encyclopaedia New York: Gale-Thomson, 2003 Vol. X, p. 773.</ref>

=== Majuscule writing ===
==== Capital writing ====
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio014rVergilPortrait.jpg|thumb|200px|Folio14 [[recto]] of the [[Vergilius Romanus]] written in [[rustic capitals]], also contains an author portrait of [[Virgil]].]]

The [[Latin alphabet]] first appears in the epigraphic type of [[majuscule]] writing, known as capitals. These characters form the main stem from which developed all the branches of Latin writing. On the oldest monuments (the ''inscriptiones bello Hannibalico antiquiores'' of the ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum = CIL]]''), it is far from showing the orderly regularity of the later period. Side by side with upright and square characters are angular and sloping forms, sometimes very distorted, which seem to indicate the existence of an early cursive writing from which they would have been borrowed. Certain literary texts clearly allude to such a hand.<ref>Cf. Henry B. Van Hoesen, [https://archive.org/details/romancursivewri00hoesgoog ''Roman Cursive Writing''], Princeton University Press, 1915, pp. 1–2.</ref> Later, the characters of the cursive type were progressively eliminated from formal inscriptions, and capital writing reached its perfection in the [[History of Rome|Augustan Age]].

Epigraphists divide the numerous inscriptions of this period into two quite distinct classes: ''tituli'', or formal inscriptions engraved on stone in elegant and regular capitals, and ''acta'', or legal texts, documents, etc., generally engraved on bronze in cramped and careless capitals. Palaeography inherits both these types. Reproduced by scribes on papyrus or parchment, the elegant characters of the inscriptions become the square capitals of the manuscripts, and the ''actuaria'', as the writing of the ''acta'' is called, becomes the [[rustic capital]].

Of the many books written in square capitals, the ''éditions de luxe'' of ancient times, only a few fragments have survived, the most famous being pages from manuscripts of [[Virgil]].<ref>Cf. [[Émile Chatelain]], [http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/classics/index.asp ''Paléographie des classiques latins''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115034341/http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/classics/index.asp |date=15 November 2013 }}, pl. LXI-II, LXXV; ''[[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]]'', viii, 1,098.</ref> The finest examples of rustic capitals, the use of which is attested by papyri of the 1st century,<ref>Cf. Karl Zangemeister & Wilhelm Wattenbach, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wuTEXwAACAAJ ''Exempla codicum Latinorum''], Koester, 1876, pl. I-II.</ref> are to be found in manuscripts of Virgil<ref>Cf. ''Pal. Soc., cit.'', pl. 113-117; ''Archivio paleografico italiano'', i, p. 98.</ref> and [[Terence]].<ref>Cf. ''Pal. Soc.'', pl. 135.</ref> Neither of these forms of capital writing offers any difficulty in reading, except that no space is left between the words. Their dates are still uncertain, in spite of attempts to determine them by minute observation.<ref>Cf. [[Karl Franz Otto Dziatzko]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=nHM2QwAACAAJ ''Untersuchungen über ausgewählte Kapitel des antiken Buchwesens''], BiblioBazaar, repr. 2010; E.A. Lowe, [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3572504 "More Facts about our Oldest Latin Manuscripts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305070639/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3572504 |date=5 March 2016 }}, in the ''Classical Quarterly'', vol. xix, p. 197.</ref>

The rustic capitals, more practical than the square forms, soon came into general use. This was the standard form of writing, so far as books are concerned, until the 5th century, when it was replaced by a new type, the uncial, which is discussed below.

==== Early cursive writing ====
While the set book-hand, in square or rustic capitals, was used for the copying of books, the writing of everyday life, letters and documents of all kinds, was in a cursive form, the oldest examples of which are provided by the [[graffiti]] on walls at [[Pompeii]] (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'', iv), a series of waxen tablets, also discovered at Pompeii (''CIL'', iv, supplement), a similar series found at [[Verespatak]] in [[Transylvania]] (''CIL'', iii) and a number of papyri.<ref>Cf. [[Carl Wessely]], [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha001159476 ''Schrifttafeln zur älteren lateinischen Palaeographie''], Leipzig, E. Avenarius; ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri, passim''; Vincenzo Federici, ''Esempi di corsivo antico''; ''et al''.</ref> From a study of a number of documents which exhibit transitional forms, it appears that this cursive was originally simplified capital writing.<ref>Cf. Franz Steffens, [http://www.paleography.unifr.ch/schrifttafeln.htm ''Lateinische Paläographie'' – digital version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907055406/http://www.paleography.unifr.ch/schrifttafeln.htm |date=7 September 2013 }}, 2nd ed., pl. 3 {{in lang|de}}; Wessely, ''Studien'', xiv, pl. viii; ''et al''.</ref> The evolution was so rapid, however, that at quite an early date the ''scriptura epistolaris'' of the Roman world can no longer be described as capitals. By the 1st century, this kind of writing began to develop the principal characteristics of two new types: the [[Uncial script|uncial]] and the [[minuscule cursive]]. With the coming into use of writing surfaces which were smooth, or offered little resistance, the unhampered haste of the writer altered the shape, size and position of the letters. In the earliest specimens of writing on wax, plaster or papyrus, there appears a tendency to represent several straight strokes by a single curve. The cursive writing thus foreshadows the specifically uncial forms. The same specimens show great inequality in the height of the letters; the main strokes are prolonged upwards ([[File:Hand 1 sample b 1.png|20px]]= {{angbr|b}}; [[File:Hand 10 sample d 2.png|20px]]= {{angbr|d}}) or downwards ([[File:Hand 2 sample q.png|20px]]= {{angbr|q}}; [[File:Hand 4 sample s 2.png|15px]] = '''{{'s}}'''). In this direction, the cursive tends to become a minuscule hand.<ref name="Bouar" />

==== Uncial writing ====
Although the characteristic forms of the uncial type appear to have their origin in the early cursive,<ref>Cf. [[Edward Maunde Thompson]], [https://archive.org/details/greeklatin00thomuoft ''Handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography''], ''s.v.''; Van Hoesen, ''The Parentage and Birthdate of the Latin Uncial'', in ''Transactions and Proceedings'' of the [[American Philological Association]], xlii.</ref> the two hands are nevertheless quite distinct. The uncial is a ''libraria'', closely related to the capital writing, from which it differs only in the rounding off of the angles of certain letters, principally [[File:Hand 1 sample A mag 2.png|28px]] [[File:Uncial d.png|15px]] [[File:Uncial e.png|15px]] [[File:Hand 2 sample m 1.png|30px]]. It represents a compromise between the beauty and legibility of the capitals and the rapidity of the cursive, and is clearly an artificial product. It was certainly in existence by the latter part of the 4th century, for a number of manuscripts of that date are written in perfect uncial hands (''Exempla'', pl. XX). It presently supplanted the capitals and appears in numerous manuscripts which have survived from the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, when it was at its height.<ref>A list is given in Traube, ''Vorlesungen'', i, pp. 171–261, and numerous reproductions in Zangemeister & Wattenbach's ''Exempla'', and in Chatelain, ''Uncialis scriptura''.</ref> By this time it had become an imitative hand, in which there was generally no room for spontaneous development. It remained noticeably uniform over a long period. It is difficult therefore to date the manuscripts by palaeographical criteria alone. The most that can be done is to classify them by centuries, on the strength of tenuous data.<ref>Cf. Chatelain, ''Unc. script., explanatio tabularum''.</ref> The earliest uncial writing is easily distinguished by its simple and monumental character from the later hands, which become progressively stiff and affected.

===List of Latin alphabets===
[[File:Paleography.jpg|thumb|right|Latin script]]
* [[Old Italic script]]
* [[Roman cursive]]
* [[Roman square capitals]]
* [[Rustic capitals]]

=== Minuscule cursive writing ===
[[File:Chronica archiepiscoporum Magdeburgensium 1r 25-C-4 (16764) Hs Kynžvart 91.jpg|thumb|Page from the [[Magdeburg]]'s ''Chronica archiepiscoporum'']]

==== Early minuscule cursive ====
In the ancient cursive writing, from the 1st century onward, there are symptoms of transformation in the form of certain letters, the shape and proportions of which correspond more closely to the definition of minuscule writing than to that of majuscule. Rare and irregular at first, they gradually become more numerous and more constant and by degrees supplant the majuscule forms, so that in the history of the Roman cursive there is no precise boundary between the majuscule and minuscule periods.

The oldest example of minuscule cursive writing that has been discovered is a letter on papyrus, found in Egypt, dating from the 4th century.<ref>Cf. ''Archiv für Urkundenforschung'', iii, pl. i.</ref> This marks a highly important date in the history of Latin writing, for with only one known exception, not yet adequately explained—two fragments of imperial rescripts of the 5th century<ref>Cf. [[Theodor Mommsen]], ''Fragmente zweier Kaiserrescripte'' in ''Jahrbuch des gemeinen deutschen Rechts'', vi, 398; Preisigke in ''Schriften der wissensch. Gesellsch. in Strassburg'', xxx; ''Pal. Soc., cit.'', pl. 30.</ref>—the minuscule cursive was consequently the only ''scriptura epistolaris'' of the Roman world. The ensuing succession of documents<ref>For example, a certificate of AD 400 in Wessely, ''Studien, cit.'', xiv, pl. xiii; a letter of AD 444 in Wessely, ''Schrifttafeln, cit.'', pl. xii, No. 19.</ref> show a continuous improvement in this form of writing, characterised by the boldness of the strokes and by the elimination of the last lingering majuscule forms. The [[Ravenna]] deeds of the 5th and 6th centuries<ref>Cf. Gaetano Marini, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UBF4CR_Ax1kC ''I Papiri diplomatici''], Lightning Source UK Ltd, repr. 2012.</ref> exhibit this hand at its perfection.

At this period, the minuscule cursive made its appearance as a ''[[book hand]]'', first as marginal notes, and later for the complete books themselves. The only difference between the book-hand and that used for documents is that the principal strokes are shorter and the characters thicker. This form of the hand is usually called ''[[Semi-cursive script|semi-cursive]]''.<ref name="Bouar" />

==== National hands ====
The fall of the Empire and the establishment of the barbarians within its former boundaries did not interrupt the use of the Roman minuscule cursive hand, which was adopted by the newcomers. But for gaps of over a century in the chronological series of documents which have been preserved, it would be possible to follow the evolution of the Roman cursive into the so-called "national hands", forms of minuscule writing which flourished after the barbarian invasions in [[Italy]], [[France]], [[Spain]], [[England]] and [[Ireland]], and which are still known as [[Lombardic language|Lombardic]], [[Merovingian script|Merovingian]], [[Visigothic script|Visigothic]], [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Insular script|Irish]]. These names came into use at a time when the various national hands were believed to have been invented by the peoples who used them, but their connotation is merely geographical. Nevertheless, in spite of a close resemblance which betrays their common origin, these hands are specifically different, perhaps because the Roman cursive was developed by each nation in accordance with its artistic tradition.<ref>Cf. Luigi Schiapparelli, ''Note paleografiche'' in ''Archivio storico italiano'', lxxiv, p. 55; also his [https://archive.org/details/lascritturalatin00schi ''La scrittura latina nell' età romana (note paleografiche)''] (with 32 facsimiles), Como, 1921.</ref>

;''Lombardic writing''
[[File:Origo gentis Langobardorum.jpg|thumb|left|A 10th-century [[codex]] of ''Origo gentis Langobardorum'' from [[Reims]]]]
In Italy, after the close of the Roman and Byzantine periods, the writing is known as [[Lombardic capitals|Lombardic]], a generic term which comprises several local varieties. These may be classified under four principal types: two for the ''scriptura epistolaris'', the old Italian cursive and the [[pope|papal]] [[chancery hand]], or ''littera romana'', and two for the ''libraria'', the old Italian book-hand and Lombardic in the narrow sense, sometimes known as ''Beneventana'' because it flourished in the principality of [[Benevento]].

The oldest preserved documents written in the old Italian cursive show all the essential characteristics of the Roman cursive of the 6th century.<ref>Cf. Giuseppe Bonelli,[https://books.google.com/books?id=bEiYQAAACAAJ ''Codice paleografico lombardo'']{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Hoepli, 1908; [https://archive.org/details/bullettino0102archuoft ''Archivio paleografico italiano, cit.''], i, iii, vii.</ref> In northern Italy, this hand began in the 9th century to be influenced by a minuscule book-hand which developed, as will be seen later, in the time of [[Charlemagne]]; under this influence it gradually disappeared, and ceased to exist in the course of the 12th century. In southern Italy, it persisted far on into the [[later Middle Ages]].<ref>Cf. Michele Russi, [https://archive.org/details/paleografiaedip00russgoog ''Paleografia e diplomatica de' documenti delle Province napolitane''], Naples, 1883.</ref> The papal chancery hand, a variety of Lombardic peculiar to the vicinity of [[Rome]] and principally used in papal documents, is distinguished by the formation of the letters ''a, e, q, t''. It is formal in appearance at first, but is gradually simplified, under the influence of the [[Carolingian minuscule]], which finally prevailed in the [[papal bull|bulls]] of [[Honorius II]] (1124–1130). The [[notaries public]] in Rome continued to use the papal chancery hand until the beginning of the 13th century. The old Italian book-hand is simply a semi-cursive of the type already described as in use in the 6th century. The principal examples are derived from ''[[scriptoria]]'' in northern Italy, where it was displaced by the Carolingian minuscule during the 9th century. In southern Italy, this hand persisted, developing into a [[calligraphy|calligraphic form]] of writing, and in the 10th century took on a very artistic angular appearance.<ref>Cf. Elias Avery Lowe, [[iarchive:beneventanscript00loweuoft|''Beneventan Script'']], Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1914; [[facsimile]]s in O. Piscicelli Taeggi, ''Paleografia artistica di Monte Cassino'', [[Montecassino]], 1876–83.</ref> The [[Exultet roll|''Exultet'' rolls]] provide the finest examples.{{According to whom|date=April 2013}} In the 9th century, it was introduced in [[Dalmatia]] by the [[Benedictine monks]] and developed there, as in [[Apulia]], on the basis of the [[archetype]], culminating in a rounded ''[[Beneventan script|Beneventana]]'' known as the ''Bari type''.<ref>Cf. Viktor Novak, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RWhzXwAACAAJ ''Scriptura Beneventana''], [[Zagreb]], 1920.</ref>

;''Merovingian''
[[File:Merov.jpg|left|thumb|8th-century [[Merovingian script]]]]
The offshoot of the Roman cursive which developed in [[Gaul]] under the first dynasty of kings is called [[Merovingian script|Merovingian writing]]. It is represented by thirty-eight royal diplomas,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lauer |first1=P. |last2=Samaran |first2=C. |oclc=461176420 |title=Les diplômes originaux des Mérovingiens: fac-similés phototypiques avec notices et transcriptions |location=Paris |publisher=E. Leroux |year=1908}}</ref> a number of private charters<ref>Cf. Jules Tardif, [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12953061 ''Fac-similé de chartes et diplômes mérovingiens et carlovingiens: sur papyrus et sur parchemin compris dans l'inventaire des Monuments historiques''], Paris: J. Claye, 1866.</ref> and the authenticating documents of relics.<ref>Cf. Maurice Prou, ''Manuel de paléographie: Recueil de fac-similés d'écritures du Ve au XVIIe siècle'', Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1904, pl. v.</ref>

Though less than a century intervenes between the Ravenna cursive and the oldest extant Merovingian document (AD 625), there is a great difference in appearance between the two writings. The facile flow of the former is replaced by a cramped style, in which the natural slope to the right gives way to an upright hand, and the letters, instead of being fully outlined, are compressed to such an extent that they modify the shape of other letters. Copyists of books used a cursive similar to that found in documents, except that the strokes are thicker, the forms more regular, and the heads and tails shorter.<ref>Cf. [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bec_0373-6237_1887_num_48_1_462552 ''Album paléographique de la Société de l'École des chartes''], pl. 12.</ref> The Merovingian cursive as used in books underwent simplification in some localities, undoubtedly through the influence of the minuscule book-hand of the period. The two principal centres of this reform were [[Luxeuil Abbey|Luxeuil]] and [[Corbie Abbey|Corbie]].<ref>Cf. Traube, ''Perrona Scottorum'' in ''Sitzungsberichte'' of the [[Munich Academy]], 1900; Liebart, ''Corbie Scriptorum'' in W.M. Lindsay's ''Palaeogr. Lat.'', i.</ref>

;''Visigothic''
[[File:AlfabetoVisigodo.png|thumb|left|Alphabet in [[Visigothic script]]]]
In Spain, after the Visigothic conquest, the Roman cursive gradually developed special characteristics. Some documents attributed to the 7th century display a transitional hand with straggling and rather uncouth forms.<ref>Cf. Ewald and Loewe, ''Exempla scripturae visigothicae'', pl. 3.</ref> The distinctive features of Visigothic writing, the most noticeable of which is certainly the q-shaped {{angbr|g}}, did not appear until later, in the book-hand. The book-hand became set at an early date. In the 8th century it appears as a sort of semi-cursive; the earliest example of certain date is [[manuscript|ms]] lxxxix in the [[Capitulary|Capitular]] [[Library]] in [[Verona]].<ref>Cf. Clark, ''Collectanea hispanica'', 63, pp. 129–130; Schiapparelli in ''Arch. stor. ital, cit.'', lxxxii, p. 106.</ref> From the 9th century the calligraphic forms become broader and more rounded until the 11th century, when they become slender and angular.<ref>Numerous reproductions exists in the literature, cf. ''int. al.'', Ewald and Loewe, ''Exempla, cit.''; Burnam, ''Paleogr. iberica''; Clark, ''Collectanea, cit.''; Garcia Villada, ''Paleogr. española''.</ref> The Visigothic minuscule appears in a cursive form in documents about the middle of the 9th century, and in the course of time grows more intricate and consequently less legible.<ref>Cf. Munoz, ''Paleogr. visigoda''; Garcia Villada, ''op. cit.''</ref> It soon came into competition with the Carolingian minuscule, which supplanted it as a result of the presence in Spain of French elements such as [[Cluniac monks]] and warriors engaged in the campaign against the [[Moors]].<ref>Cf. Hessel, ''Ausbreitung der karolingischen Minuskel'' in ''Archiv für Urkundenforschung'', vii, viii.</ref>

The Irish and Anglo-Saxon hands, which were not directly derived from the Roman minuscule cursive, will be discussed in a [[#Irish and Anglo-Saxon Writing|separate sub-section below]].

=== Set minuscule writing ===
One by one, the national minuscule cursive hands were replaced by a set minuscule hand which has already been mentioned and its origins may now be traced from the beginning.

==== Half-uncial writing ====
The early cursive was the medium in which the minuscule forms were gradually evolved from the corresponding majuscule forms. Minuscule writing was therefore cursive in its inception. As the minuscule letters made their appearance in the cursive writing of documents, they were adopted and given calligraphic form by the copyists of literary texts, so that the set minuscule alphabet was constituted gradually, letter by letter, following the development of the minuscule cursive. Just as some documents written in the early cursive show a mixture of majuscule and minuscule forms, so certain literary papyri of the 3rd century,<ref>''Oxyrhynchus Papyri, cit.'', iv, pl. vi, No. 668; xi, pl. vi, No. 1,379.</ref> and inscriptions on stone of the 4th century<ref>''Pal. Soc., cit.'', pl. 127-8; ''Arch. pal. ital., cit.'', v, pl. 6.</ref> yield examples of a mixed set hand, with minuscule forms side by side with capital and uncial letters. The number of minuscule forms increases steadily in texts written in the mixed hand, and especially in marginal notes, until by the end of the 5th century the majuscule forms have almost entirely disappeared in some [[manuscript]]s. This quasi-minuscule writing, known as the "half-uncial"<ref>Cf. many examples in [[Émile Chatelain]], ''Semiuncial Script, passim''.</ref> thus derives from a long line of mixed hands which, in a synoptic chart of [[Latin script]]s, would appear close to the oldest ''librariae'', and between them and the ''epistolaris'' (cursive), from which its characteristic forms were successively derived. It had a considerable influence on the continental ''scriptura libraria'' of the 7th and 8th centuries.

==== Irish and Anglo-Saxon writing ====
The half-uncial hand was introduced in Ireland along with Latin culture in the 5th century by priests and laymen from [[Gaul]], fleeing before the barbarian invasions. It was adopted there to the exclusion of the cursive, and soon took on a distinct character. There are two well established classes of Irish writing as early as the 7th century: a large round half-uncial hand, in which certain majuscule forms frequently appear, and a pointed hand, which becomes more cursive and more genuinely minuscule. The latter developed out of the former.<ref>Cf. Wolfgang Keller, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IKA3QwAACAAJ ''Angelsächsische Palaeographie''], Mayer & Müller, 1906.</ref> One of the distinguishing marks of manuscripts of Irish origin is to be found in the initial letters, which are ornamented by interlacing, animal forms, or a frame of red dots. The most certain evidence, however, is provided by the system of abbreviations and by the combined square and cuneiform appearance of the minuscule at the height of its development.<ref>Cf. Schiapparelli in ''Arch. stor. ital., cit.'', lxxiv, ii, pp. 1–126.</ref> The two types of Irish writing were introduced in the north of Great Britain by the monks, and were soon adopted by the [[Anglo-Saxons]], being so exactly copied that it is sometimes difficult to determine the origin of an example. Gradually, however, the Anglo-Saxon writing developed a distinct style, and even local types,<ref>Cf. Keller, ''op. cit.''; W.M. Lindsay, [https://archive.org/details/earlywelshscript00lind ''Early Welsh Script''], Oxford: J. Parker & Co., 1912.</ref> which were superseded after the Norman conquest by the Carolingian minuscule. Through [[St Columbanus]] and his followers, Irish writing spread to the continent, and manuscripts were written in the Irish hand in the monasteries of [[Bobbio Abbey]] and [[St Gall]] during the 7th and 8th centuries.

==== Pre-Caroline ====
James J. John points out that the disappearance of imperial authority around the end of the 5th century in most of the Latin-speaking half of the Roman Empire does not entail the disappearance of the Latin scripts, but rather introduced conditions that would allow the various provinces of the West gradually to drift apart in their writing habits, a process that began around the 7th century.<ref>{{cite book |first=James J. |last=John |chapter=Latin Paleography |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Powell |title=Medieval Studies : An Introduction |edition=2nd |location=Syracuse |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |year=1992 |pages=15–16 |isbn=0-8156-2555-3 }}</ref>

[[Pope Gregory I]] (Gregory the Great, d. 604) was influential in the spread of Christianity to Britain and also sent Queens Theodelinde and Brunhilda, as well as Spanish bishops, copies of manuscripts. Furthermore, he sent the Roman monk [[Augustine of Canterbury]] to Britain on a missionary journey, on which Augustine may have brought manuscripts. Although Italy's dominance as a centre of manuscript production began to decline, especially after the [[Gothic War (535–554)]] and the invasions by the [[Lombards]], its manuscripts—and more important, the scripts in which they were written—were distributed across Europe.<ref>See {{cite book |first=Bernhard |last=Bischoff |author-link=Bernhard Bischoff |title=Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages |translator-first=Daibi O |translator-last=Croinin |translator2-first=David |translator2-last=Ganz |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1990 |pages=83–112; 190–202 |isbn=0-521-36473-6 }}</ref>

From the 6th through the 8th centuries, a number of so-called 'national hands' were developed throughout the Latin-speaking areas of the former Roman Empire. By the late 6th century Irish scribes had begun transforming Roman scripts into Insular minuscule and majuscule scripts. A series of transformations, for book purposes, of the cursive documentary script that had grown out of the later Roman cursive would get under way in France by the mid-7th century. In Spain half-uncial and cursive would both be transformed into a new script, the Visigothic minuscule, no later than the early 8th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|John|1992|p=16}}.</ref>

==== Carolingian minuscule ====
[[File:Charlemagne miniscule.jpg|thumb|200px|A page in [[Carolingian minuscule]] (''[[Book of Exodus]]'')]]
Beginning in the 8th century, as [[Charlemagne]] began to consolidate power over a large area of western Europe, scribes developed a minuscule script ([[Caroline minuscule]]) that effectively became the standard script for manuscripts from the 9th to the 11th centuries. The origin of this hand is much disputed. This is due to the confusion which prevailed before the Carolingian period in the ''libraria'' in France, Italy and Germany as a result of the competition between the cursive and the set hands. In addition to the calligraphic uncial and half-uncial writings, which were imitative forms, little used and consequently without much vitality, and the minuscule cursive, which was the most natural hand, there were innumerable varieties of mixed writing derived from the influence of these hands on each other. In some, the uncial or half-uncial forms were preserved with little or no modification, but the influence of the cursive is shown by the freedom of the strokes; these are known as rustic, semi-cursive or cursive uncial or half-uncial hands. Conversely, the cursive was sometimes affected, in varying degrees, by the set ''librariae''; the cursive of the ''epistolaris'' became a semi-cursive when adopted as a ''libraria''. Nor is this all. Apart from these reciprocal influences affecting the movement of the hand across the page, there were [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] influences at work, letters being borrowed from one alphabet for another. This led to compromises of all sorts and of infinite variety between the uncial and half-uncial and the cursive. It will readily be understood that the origin of the Carolingian minuscule, which must be sought in this tangle of pre-Carolingian hands, involves disagreement. The new writing is admittedly much more closely related to the ''epistolaris'' than the primitive minuscule; this is shown by certain forms, such as the open ''{{angbr|a}}'' ([[File:Hand 1.1 sample a 2.png|20px]]), which recall the cursive, by the joining of certain letters, and by the clubbing of the tall letters '''''b d h l''''', which resulted from a cursive ''[[Ductus (linguistics)|ductus]]''. Most palaeographers agree in assigning the new hand the place shown in the {{clarify span|following table|where is its content?|date=April 2025}}:<ref name="Bouar" />
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
! ''Epistolaris''
! colspan="5" | ''Librariæ''
|-
| Minuscule cursive
| rowspan="2" | Capitals<br />Uncials
| Half-uncial
| Rustic uncial<br />and half-uncial
| Pre-Carolingian<br />Carolingian
| Semi-cursive
|}

Controversy turns on the question whether the Carolingian minuscule is the primitive minuscule as modified by the influence of the cursive or a cursive based on the primitive minuscule. Its place of origin is also uncertain: Rome, the [[Palatine]] school, [[Tours]], [[Reims]], [[Metz]], [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]] and [[Corbie]] have been suggested, but no agreement has been reached.<ref>Cf. ''int. al.'', Harald Steinacker in ''Miscellanea Francesco Ehrle'', Rome, 1924, iv, pp. 126ff; G. Cencetti, "Postilla nuova a un problema paleografico vecchio: l'origine della minuscola carolina", in ''Nova Historia'', 1955, pp. 1–24; B. Bischoff, ''Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, cit.'', pp. 108–109.</ref> In any case, the appearance of the new hand is a turning point in the history of culture. So far as Latin writing is concerned, it marks the dawn of [[Early modern period|modern times]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |last=Thompson |first=Edward Maunde |wstitle=Palaeography |volume=20 |pages=556&ndash;579}}</ref>

==== Gothic minuscule ====
In the 12th century, Carolingian minuscule underwent a change in its appearance and adopted bold and broken [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] letter-forms. This style remained predominant, with some regional variants, until the 15th century, when the [[Renaissance humanism|Renaissance humanistic]] scripts revived a version of Carolingian minuscule. It then spread from the Italian [[Renaissance]] all over Europe.