Editing Palaeography (section)

==== 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" />