London, British Library, Harley 6258B

Summary: Although the script is very irregular and untidy and the hand varies over the course of its campaign, it seems that only one scribe was responsible for the transcription, corrections, additions of titles, initials and marginal annotations.

The manuscript is not described in Wanley's Catalogues while the Catalogue of Harleian Manuscripts (1973, iii, p. 347) merely states that the manuscript is evidently very old. Beccaria 1956 does not include this codex in his catalogue because it is not pre-Salernitan (ante eleventh century).

Ker 1957 described it as a 'small ill-formed script' and dated it after 1200 on the strength of the shape of the biting d before e and o, the tironian nota with an horizontal stroke across its ascender and the 'small ill-formed' nature of the script (p. xix). De Vriend 1984 discounted this suggestion arguing that the features Ker put forward are not exclusively post-1200 features. He points out that there is an unmistakable resemblance between this codex and Harley 55, fols 5-13 (Laws of Cnut) dated mid-twelfth century by Ker (see Ker 1957, no. 226): they show the same kind of 'prickly' script although much neater and more regular in manuscript Harley 55. Thus, De Vriend suggested dating the manuscript to the second half of the twelfth century at the latest (p. xxx). Doane 1994 defined it as a pointed insular minuscule with some Caroline features (p. 44), while Laura Nuvolini, in a private communication, suggests calling it an English vernacular minuscule with some protogothic features.

However, these discussions ought to consider that the manuscript could be written before the thirteenth century, because of the confusion of the letters tand j (for instance on fol. 10r/2 mætan is corrected in mæjan) which is not attested after that time (see Burchfield 1953, pp. 8-17). Moreover, the similarities between Harley 55 and Harley 6258B are not relevant for dating as the letters s, f and r are, in this first manuscript, always of insular type, while the later uses Caroline forms. A late twelfth-century dating seems more appropriate. Many Caroline forms are only slightly compressed, the letters are still well-separated and a consistent use of protogothic elements is lacking, thus suggesting a period not too close to the thirteenth century. On the other hand, the development of serifs and feet points to a late twelfth-century dating.

• Scope: Major
• Script: Insular minuscule with Caroline fatures
• Ker reference: Ker p. xix
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand: Letters keep a round shape but developed triangular wedges at the top of the ascenders and feet consisting of an upwards turn of the pen. Letters are still well-separated, although the script is a little compressed, probably to save space rather than to respond to a particular scribal habit.
• a: Caroline form with a small lobe, which is always closed; in few instances the top is completely curved to the left, but more often is short and straight.
• c: round-broken stroke.
• d: round loop with a tall sloping ascender.
• e: round-back with a short tongue to the right of the squarish head, longer at the end of a word.
• f: Caroline form sitting on the line with a long ascender and a long leftwards tail.
• g: Caroline form with a closed lower loop used with the insular 5-shaped g with a descender curving towards the left and an open lobe. The head stroke is flat.
• h: Caroline form with a right limb which curls to the left.
• i, m, n and u are traced singularly, irregular in shape and their feet either finish with a small serif or with a sharper angle to the right.
• Tall, wedged ascender l has a shaft finishing on the line with a small foot curling to the right.
• Rounded closed o.
• p and ƿ are mainly distinguishable through meaning. However, phas a descender finishing with a right curl and a closed, squarish lobe which closes past the shaft on the left.
• þ formed with a tailed descender generally curving towards the left at the end and a closed small lobe.
• r has two forms: Caroline form with a straight 45 degree head stroke and a 2-shaped r after o.
• Caroline s and insular form with a head stroke curving to the left.
• t has a straight head.
• x has an exaggerated descender curving left.
• ƿ is used and it is very much like y without a dot; the descender ends with a flick to the left.
• y is always dotted and the descender ends with a flick to the left.
• Ascenders end with a hair tail. Generally, letters keep a round shape but developed triangular wedge at the top of the ascenders.
• Descenders: Feet close with an upwards turn of the pen. Letters are still well-separated, although the script is a little compressed, probably to save space rather than to respond to a particular scribal habit
• Accents: upward slanting stroke above i, rarely above other letters (e.g. above a at fol. 47/22).
• Abbreviations: common marks of abbreviations are used. Characteristic are the crossed tironian nota for and angled slightly rightward; a suprascript virgule that cross the ascender of þ to indicateþat/þæt and whose top goes higher than the top of the ascender. The same type of comma crosses the round-backed ð; a straight stroke usually abbreviates m, n and -er is abbreviated with macrons, apostrophe or a superscript virgule.
• Punctuation: Punctus on the line and the punctus elevatus. In a few instances a colon (fol. 45v/18).
• Litterae Notabiliores: Signs of paragraphs or nota are sometimes used as a signe-de-renvoi for the title (fol. 45v/5) or annotations (fol. 38r/8). The sign of a paragraph is sometimes found in the text to mark the beginning of a remedy (fols 26v/12; fol. 64v72,9,14). A cross is used to sign additions in the text and the place for the insertion (fols 21v/1 and 22r/1). The capital letters A and B are used to sign the inversion (fol. 39v/17-23).
• Ligatures: Ligatures are widely used sl, st, ct and ft, where the headstroke of the first letters curves and forms the shaft of the following; juncture of d and e is also used (fol. 34v/12).
• Language: The scribe uses a greater number of twelfth-century spelling but the language is clearly Late West-Saxon, with some levelling of inflections (see Schiessl 1905; De Vriend 1984, pp. lxxv-lxxviii; Bierbaumer 1976, pp. xi-xii).
• Correcting technique: corrections were carefully made by underdotting (fol. 45r/13), staining (fol. 49v/14) or underlining the letters to be deleted (fol. 44v/5), striking-through a word (fol. 45v/6); the correct word or letter may be interlined above (fol. 47v/18) or a signe-de-renvoi consisting of parallel slanting lines (fol. 10r/26) or a cross (fol. 10r/27) may be added. The parallel slanting lines are also used to indicate inversion of order (fol. 59r/18).