Editing Palaeography (section)

==== 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>