century, the character is large and at first not so intricate as it becomes later in this period. The writing then grows into a more regular form, and in the 9th century a small hand is established, which, however, still retains the exaggerated heads and tails of letters. The direct course of this chancery hand may then be followed in the imperial documents, which from the second half of the 9th century are written in a hand more set and evidently influenced by the Carolingian minuscule. This form of writing, still accompanied by the lengthened strokes already referred to, continued in force, subject, however, to the varying changes which affected it in common with other hands, into the 12th century. Its influence was felt as well in France as in Germany and Italy; and certain of its characteristics also appear in the court-hand which the Normans brought with them into England.
| |||
| Fig. 37.—Merovingian diploma, A.D. 679–680. | |||
|
The book-hand immediately derived from the early Merovingian diplomatic hand is seen in MSS. of the 7th and 8th centuries in a very neatly written but not very easy hand (Cat. Anc. MSS. ii. Plates 29, 30; Arndt, Schrifttaf. 28).
| |||
| Fig. 38.—St Gregory’s Moralia, 7th century. Merovingian Writing, 7th century. | |||
|
But other varieties of the literary hand as written in France are seen to be more closely allied to the Roman cursive. The earliest example is found in the papyrus fragments of writings of St Avitus and St Augustine of the 6th century (Études paléogr. sur des papyrus du VIᵐᵉ siècle, Geneva, 1866); and other later MSS. by their diversity of writing show a development independent of the cursive hand of the Merovingian charters. It is among these MSS. that those examples already referred to occur which more nearly resemble the Lombardic type.
.jpg) | |||
| Fig. 39.—Ecclesiastical Canons (Franco-Lombardic), 8th century. | |||
|
The uncial and half-uncial hands had also their influence in the evolution of these Merovingian book-hands; and the mixture of so many different forms accounts for the variety to be found in the examples of the 7th and 8th centuries. In the Notice sur un MS. Mérovingien d’Eugyppus (1875) and the Notice sur un MS. Mérovingien de la Bibl. d’Épinal (1878), Delisle has given many valuable facsimiles in illustration of the different hands in these two MSS. of the early part of the 8th century. See also Exempla Codd. Lat. (tab. 57), and autotypes in Cat. anc. MSS. ii. There was, however, through all this period a general progress towards a settled minuscule writing which only required a master-hand to fix it in a purified and calligraphic form. How this was effected will be described below, after disposing of the early national writing of our own islands.
Irish Writing.—The early history of the palaeography of the British Isles stands apart from that of the continental schools. As was noticed above, the Roman handwriting which was used by the Roman settlers in Britain and was imparted by them to the native Britons was swept out of existence when the Saxon invasion abruptly destroyed the continuity of Roman civilization in these islands. Britain had to wait a long time for the reappearance of Roman writing in the country; but it was destined to reappear, though in a different phase, in book-form, not in cursive form; and not directly, but through another channel. That channel was Ireland.
It is evident that the civilization and learning which accompanied the establishment of an ancient Church in Ireland could not exist without a written literature. The Roman missionaries would certainly in the first place have imported copies of the Gospels and other books, and it cannot be doubted that through intercourse with England the Irish would obtain continental MSS. in sufficient numbers to serve as models for their scribes. From geographical and political conditions, however, no continuous intimacy with foreign countries was possible; and we are consequently prepared to find a form of writing borrowed in the first instance from a foreign school, but developed under an independent national system. In Ireland we have an instance how conservative writing may become, and how it will hand on old forms of letters from one generation to another when there is no exterior influence to act upon it. After once obtaining its models, the Irish school of writing was left to work out its own ideas, and continued to follow one direct line for centuries. The subsequent English conquest had no effect upon the national handwriting. Both peoples in the island pursued their own course. In MSS. in the Irish language the Irish character of writing was naturally employed; and the liturgical books produced in Irish monasteries by Irish monks were written in the same way. The grants and other deeds of the English settlers were, on the other hand, drawn up by English scribes in their then national writing. The Irish handwriting went on in its even uninterrupted course; and its consequent unchanging form makes it so difficult a matter to assign accurate dates to Irish MSS.
The early Irish handwriting is of two classes—the round and the pointed. The round hand is found in the earliest examples; the pointed hand, which also was developed at an early period became the general hand of the country, and survives in the native writing of the present day. Of the earliest surviving MSS. written in Ireland none are found to be in pure uncial letters. That uncial MSS. were introduced into the country by the early missionaries can hardly be doubted, if we consider that that character was so commonly employed as a bookhand, and especially for sacred texts. Nor is it impossible that Irish scribes may have practised this hand. The copy of the Gospels in uncials, found in the tomb of St Kilian, and preserved at Würzburg, has been quoted as an instance of Irish uncial. The writing, however, is the ordinary uncial, and bears no marks of Irish nationality (Exempla, tab. 58). The most ancient examples are in half-uncial letters, so similar in character to the continental half-uncial MSS. of Roman type noticed above, that there can be no hesitation in deriving the Irish from the Roman writing. We have only to compare the Irish MSS. of the round type with the continental MSS. to be convinced of the identity of their styles of writing. There are unfortunately no means of ascertaining the exact period when this style of hand was first adopted in Ireland. Among the very earliest surviving examples none bears a fixed date; and it is impossible to accept the traditional ascription of certain of them to particular saints of
