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जीवी

N°1.

N°2.

SPECIMENS OF MEROVINGIAN AND CARLOVINGIAN WRITING.
FROM THE 7TH TO THE 9TH CENTURY

quatranfmaqzprosneb:

Pl. 9.

NI. From a Charter of Dagobert1about 628,AD

N°3.

No 3. From a Charter

of Childebert III,
703. AD

K

N°6.

No 6. From a Charter of the reign of Hugues Capet,

گا

date 988, A.D

N° 7

N°8.

No 7. From a Charter of the German Emperor. Conrad 1.

Au kaži nodchucturerço

date 989, A.D.

N. 8. Specimen of the Visigothic hand, common in the
South of France & Spain in the 8th Century.

119

CHAPTER XI.

THE RISE OF THE MODERN NATIONAL STYLES OF WRITING IN EUROPE, AND THE ORIGIN OF HIGHLY DECORATIVE OR ILLUMINATED MSS.

EFORE commencing a consecutive account of the general progress of writing in Europe, after the fall of Rome and the disruption of her provinces, it may be as well to explain more fully than I have done before the precise meaning of three terms which may frequently occur in the ensuing pages-namely, capital, uncial, and minuscule.

Nearly all the principal methods of ancient writing may be divided into square capitals, rounded capitals, and cursive letters; the square capitals being termed simply capitals, the rounded capitals uncials, and the small letters, or such as had changed their form during the creation of a runninghand, minuscule.

Capitals are, strictly speaking, such letters as retain the earliest settled form of an alphabet; being generally of such angular shapes as could conveniently be carved on wood or stone, or engraved in metal, to be stamped on coins. The earliest Latin MSS. known are written entirely in capitals, like inscriptions in metal or marble.

The uncial letters, as they are termed, appear to have arisen as writing on papyrus or vellum became common, when many of the straight lines of the capitals, in that kind of writing, gradually acquired a curved form, to facilitate their more rapid execution. However this may be, from the sixth to the eighth, or even tenth century, these uncials, or partly rounded capitals prevail. This style being more easily learnt than the cursive style, was possibly the cause of its becoming the favourite manner of writing important books among monkish scribes, from the sixth to the eighth or ninth century. At the same. time, deeds of law or common business, where dispatch was essential, were executed in a corrupted form of the ancient Roman cursive hand, by professional scribes, descendants of the Roman official writers.

The modern minuscule, differing from the ancient cursive character, appears to have arisen in the following manner: During the sixth and seventh centuries, a kind of transition style prevailed in Italy and some other parts of Europe, the letters composing which, have been termed semi-uncials, which, in a further transition, became more like those of the old Roman cursive. This manner, when definitely formed, became what is now termed the minuscule manner; it began to prevail over uncials in a certain class of MSS.

about the eighth century, and towards the tenth its general use was, with few exceptions, established. It is said to have been used occasionally as early as the fifth century; but I am unable to cite an authentic existing monument. The Psalter of Alfred the Great, written in the ninth century, is in a small Roman cursive hand; which has induced Casley to consider it the work of some Italian ecclesiastic.

Having thus briefly described those terms referring to the medieval writing of Europe most frequently used by paleographers, it only remains, previous to entering upon an account of the progress of writing in England, to give a very simple outline of the manner in which the alphabets of modern Europe were founded upon their classic predecessors, those of Greece and Rome.

The Grecian alphabet, partly from ancient intercommunication prior to the Roman supremacy, and partly through the influence of the Greek Church in the eastern and north-eastern portions of Europe, became the parent of the ancient Gothic, Runic, Sclavonian, Bulgarian, and Russian alphabets, with some few others; the Roman being the basis upon which the system of writing of all the other nations of Europe was founded; including Italy, Germany, Spain, France, England, &c. &c. It will be sufficient to state, of the alphabets founded on the Greek, that the Gauls used the Greek alphabet before the invasion of the Romans, and abandoned it for that of Rome, after their subjection to that power in the form of a Roman province. But Greek letters had travelled further north, where the Roman arms never penetrated; and there, the ancient Gothic and Runic alphabets were founded upon it. At what epoch this took place is uncertain, though the restricted extent of the Runic alphabet, only sixteen letters, corresponding in number to the earliest form of the Greek alphabet, would lead to the inference that it must have been at a very early period; which hypothesis is, however, at variance with the supposed invention of a Mosogothic alphabet, founded on the Greek, by Ulphilas in the fourth century; and also, by the fact that there are no well-authenticated monuments of the Runic or ancient Gothic alphabets known anterior to the fourth or fifth centuries. The Sclavonian, Illyrian, Bulgarian, and Russian alphabets, more directly founded on the Greek, appear to have been first adopted at the time of the spread of Christianity to those countries, through the medium of the Greek Church, about the last-named epochs—namely, the fourth or fifth centuries of

our era.

Though Runic characters were forbidden in some countries of the north of Europe after the conquests of Charlemagne, they were yet not discontinued in Denmark till after the thirteenth century, and the ancient Gothic was still later in partial use in Sweden, though both countries now use the modernised Roman alphabet. Among the Russians and other Sclavonic races, however, the peculiar adaptations of the Greek alphabet, originally adopted by them, still form their national alphabets.

It is not within the province of this work to enter upon any account of

the Oriental alphabets which have arisen upon the ruins of those described in the early part of it, or those founded on the Greek, just referred to. But this chapter would be scarcely complete unless accompanied by examples consisting of one or two of the alphabets founded on the Greek, and therefore the ancient Gothic, Runic, and Russian alphabets, with the corresponding values of the letters in Anglo-Roman characters, will be found in the annexed engraving. It will be perceived that in the Russian, many letters have been added to suit the peculiar sounds of the language.

The Roman alphabet, and manner of writing, adopted in the other nations. of Europe, was, of course, known and used in Gaul, Spain, parts of Germany, and Britain, after they became subject to the power of Rome. They continued to use it in those countries after the fall of the empire, and the modern distinctive national styles did not begin to develop themselves till towards the end of the sixth century, and did not assume their permanently national characteristics till the end of the seventh.

The writing of Italy, after the fall of the imperial power, has been termed Lombardic, but might, with greater correctness, be termed Italic, as it was

R

found in use in the country, and adopted by the Lombards, but not invented by them. This style, with the Romano-Gallic of Gaul and the Visigothic of Spain, are the first distinct modes of writing which appear in Europe after the fall of Rome; and were doubtless founded on the styles which existed in those countries respectively at the time of that great catastrophe. They were followed by the national styles which have been termed Merovingian, Carlovingian, Capetian, Saxon, Norman, Spanish, &c.

The Roman cursive hand, as used in diplomas, of which I have previously given a specimen (Plate VIII. No. 1), continued in use after the incursion of written barbarians; and the famous "Charter," as it is termed, of Ravenna, in the French Library, is written in this manner. This curious document contains, beside the will of one Constantinus, a dyer, dated in the year 480 A.D.; another, made by Georgius, a dealer in silks, son of Julian of Antioch, of the year 522; and also other deeds, transacted in the presence of the magistrates of that city. This, and an interesting monument in the British Museum of a similar class, relating to a sale or transfer of certain lands, are both written on papyrus. Such documents as these, of which many might be cited, tend to prove that the disturbance of social relations, on the fall of Rome, was not so great as is generally supposed, though painted by historians as one of general dislocation and convulsion; and other monuments of the period, in which marriage-settlements, wills, grants, rights to property, personal and real, and even minute litigations concerning trifling matters, are as minutely detailed as in the most settled periods of organised society, seem to show that, with the exception of the governing power, little was changed; excepting, of course, those cases of spoliation, naturally consequent upon making provision for a sudden increase of population, in the form of an army of conquerors.

As a specimen of the style of cursive writing immediately descended from the Roman, I have engraved in fac-simile a small portion of a bull of Pope John VIII. (Plate VIII. No. 5), written on papyrus, in lines above eighteen inches long; the letters of the first line being fully twice the length of those in the word given as a specimen, which forms the commencement of the second line, and is to be read Geiloni; the first line being, "Johannes ep. serv. serv. di Geiloni," &c. &c. The date of this bull, given at Rome, corresponds to the 15th of October, 876 A.D.

The next specimen (Plate VIII. No. 6) is in the more usual Italic or Lombardic style. It is from a charter of Grimoaldus, Duke of Beneventum, one of the Lombardic princes of that district, who, having made terms with Charlemagne, on the reduction of the territories of King Didier, the last Lombardic prince of the north of Italy, still held great part of the territory which now forms the kingdom of Naples. The specimen is from the commencement of the charter, and reads, allowing for abbreviations, "In nomine Domini Dei, Jesu;" after the word Christi, which follows, the original document reads on," nos vir gloriosissimus Grimoaldus, Dei Providentia," &c. &c.