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GREEK WRITING . IL TUE VELLUM CODICES Uncial Writing.It has been shown above how a round uncial hand had been developing in Greek writing on papyrus during the early centuries of the Christian era, and how even as early as the and century a well-formed uncial script was in use, at least for sumptuous copies of so great and popular an author as Homer. We have now to describe the uncial hand as it appears in Greek MSS. written on vellum. This harder and firmer and smoother material afforded to the scribes better scope for a calligraphic style hardly possible on papyrus. With the ascendancy of the vellum codex as the vehicle for literature, the characters received the fixed and settled forms to which the name of uncial is more exactly attached than to the fluctuating letters of the early papyri. The term uncial has been borrowed from the nomenclature of Latin palaeography' and applied to Greek writing of the larger type, to distinguish it from the minuscule or smaller 'character which succeeded it in vellum MSS. of the 9th century. In Latin majuscule writing there exist both capitals and uncials, each class distinct. In Greek MSS. pure capital -letter writing was never employed (except occasionally for ornamental titles at a late time). As distinguished from the square capitals of inscriptions , Greek uncial writing has certain rounded letters, as a, e, c, co, modifications in others, and some letters extending above or below the line.It is not probable that vellum codices were in ordinary use earlier than the 4th century; and it is in codices of that age that the handsome calligraphic uncial above referred to was developed. A few years ago the 4th century was the earliest limit to which palaeographers had dared to carry back any ancient vellum codex inscribed in uncials. But the recovery of the Homeric papyri written in the large uncials of the and century has led to a revision of former views on the date of one early vellum MS. in particular. This MS. is the fragmentary Homer of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, consisting of some fifty pieces of vellum cut out of the original
' St Jerome's often quoted words, " uncialibus, ut vulgo aiunt, litteris " in his preface to the book of Job, have never been explained satisfactorily. Of the character referred to as " uncial " there is no question; but the derivation of the term is not settled. 564 Ambrosian Homer must be classed with them. Hence it is now held that that MS. may certainly be as early as the 3rd century. But, as that century was still within the period when papyrus was the general vehicle for Greek literature, it may be asked why that material should not in this instance also have been used. The answer may fairly be ventured that vellum was certainly a better material to receive the illustrative paintings, and on that account was employed. The Ambrosian Homer may therefore be regarded as a most interesting link between the papyrus uncial of the 2nd century and the vellum uncial of the 4th and 5th centuries. With the introduction, then, of vellum as the general writing material, the uncial characters entered on a new phase. The light touch and delicate forms so characteristic of calligraphy on papyrus gave place to a rounder and stronger hand, in which the contrast of fine hair-lines and thickened down-strokes adds so conspicuously to the beauty of the writing of early MSS. on vellum. And here it may be remarked, with respect to the attribution to particular periods of these early examples, that we are not altogether on firm ground. Internal evidence, such, for example, as the presence of the Eusebian Canons in a MS. of the Gospel, assists us in fixing a limit of age, but when there is no such support the dating of these early MSS. must be more or less conjectural. It is not till the beginning of the 6th century that we meet with an uncial MS. which can be approximately dated; and, taking this as a standard of comparison, we are enabled to distinguish those which undoubtedly have the appearance of greater age and to arrange them in some sort of chronological order. But these codices are too few in number to afford material in sufficient quantity for training the eye by familiarity with a variety of hands of any one periodthe only method which can give entirely trustworthy results. Among the earliest examples of vellum uncial MSS. are the three famous codices of the Bible. Of these, the most ancient, the Codex Vaticanus, is probably of the 4th century. The writing must, in its original
The Codex Alexandrinus (fig. 12) is placed in the middle of the 5th century. Here we have an advance on the style of the other two codices. The MS. is written in double columns only, and enlarged letters stand at the beginning of paragraphs. But yet the writing is generally more elegant than that of the Codex Sinaiticus. Examining these MSS. with a view to ascertain the rules which guided the scribes in their work, we find simplicity and regularity the leading features; the round letters formed in symmetrical curves; E and C, &c., finishing off in a hair-line sometimes thickened at the end into a dot; horizontal
of II also fine, and, as a rule, kept within the limits of the letters and not projecting beyond. Here also may be noticed the occurrence in the Codex -Alexandrinus of Coptic forms of letters (e.g. Q,Jjalpha and mu) in the t ides of books, &c., confirmatory of the tradition of the Egyptian origin of the MS. reI (TEKVLJV O'OU 7EPL7raTOVV 1- as Ell aX17BEla KaOwc evro X,7v eXa(3oEV afro Tot) 7r[aT]p[o]s).-2 John 4. To the 5th century may also belong the palimpsest MS. Of the Bible, known from the upper text as the Codex Ephraeini, at Paris (ed. Tischendorf, 1845); and the Octateuch (Codex Sarravianus), whose extant leaves are divided between Paris, Leiden and St Petersburgboth of which MSS. are probably of Egyptian origin. Perhaps of the end of the 5th or beginning of the 6th century is the illustrated Genesis of the Cottonian Library, now unfortunately reduced to fragments by fire, but once the finest example of its kind (Cat.- Anc. MSS. i. p1. 8). And to about the same time belong the Dio Cassius of the Vatican (Silvestre, pl. 6o) and the Pentateuch of the Bibliotheque Nationale (ibid. pl. 61). In the writing of uncial MSS. of the 6th century there is a marked degeneration. The letters; though still round, are generally of a larger character, more heavily formed, and not so compactly written as in the preceding century. Horizontal strokes (e.g. in A, II, T) are lengthened and finished off with heavy points or finials. The earliest example of this period which has to be noticed is the Dioscorides of Vienna _ (fig. 13), which is of particular value for the study of the palaeography of early vellum MSS. It is the first uncial example to which an approximate date can be given. There is good evidence to show that it was written early in the 6th century for Juliana Anicia, daughter of Flavius Anicius Olybrius, emperor of the West in 472. Here we already notice _the characteristics of uncial writings of the 6th century, to which reference has been 1A"Ti" OHice'` iX Ltiw11ATi T NENTeT H' AI 1 rA0O A.! T 1I X GXON Acets" EN Tw'rrepI4 peI (-ta 7rpo1jK71 XPtaart [a]urwv VTET1111Tat [xa]7raOou &7r7)Kf Kat exovro. 7rOX as e4 w[v] --el) To) 7reptcliEPEt) made. To this century also belong the palimpsest Homer under a Syriac text in the British Museum (Cat. Anc. MSS,, i. pl. 9); its companion volume, used by the same Syrian scribe, in which are fragments of St Luke's Gospel (ibid., pl. 1o); the Dublin palimpsest fragments of St Matthew and Isaiah (T. K. Abbot, Par Palimpsest, Dubl.), written in Egypt; the fragments of the Pauline Epistles from Mount Athos, some of which are at Paris and others at Moscow (Silvestre, pls. 63, 64; Sabas, pl. A), of which, however, the writing has been disfigured by retracing at a later period; the Gospels (Cod. N) written in silver and gold on purple vellum, whose leaves are scattered in London (Cott. MS., Titus C. xv.), Rome, Vienna, St Petersburg, and its native home, Patmos; the fragmentary Eusebian Canons written on gilt vellum and highly ornamented, the sole remains of some sumptuous volume (Cat. Anc. MSS. i. pl. II); the Coislin Octateuch (Silvestre, pl. 65); the Genesis of Vienna, and the Codex Rossanensis, and the recently recovered Codex Sinopensis of the Gospels, instances of the very few early illustrated MSS. which have survived. Of the same period is the Codex Marchalianus of the Prophets, which, written in Egypt, follows in its style the Coptic form of uncial. Reference may here be made to certain early bilingual Graeco-Latin uncial MSS., written in the 6th and 7th centuries, which; however, have rather to be studied apart, or in connexion with Latin palaeography; for the Greek letters of these MSS. run more or less upon the lines of the Latin forms. The best known of these examples are the Codex-Bezae of the New Testament, at Cambridge (Pal. Soc. pls. 14, 15), and the Codex Claromontanus of the Pauline Epistles, at Paris (Pal. Soc. pls. 63, 64), attributed to the 6th or 7th century; and the Laudian MS. of the Acts of the Apostles (Pal. Soc. p1. 8o) of the 7th century. To these may be added the Harleian Glossary (Cat. Ant. MSS. i. pl. '11), also of the 7th century. A later example, of the 8th century, is the Graeco-Latin Psalter, at Paris, MS. Coislin 186 (Omont, Facs. des plus anti ens MSS. grecs, pl. vii.). An offshoot of early Greek uncial writing on vellum is seen in the Moeso-Gothic alphabet which Ulfilas constructed for the use of his countrymen) in the 4th century, mainly from the Greek letters. Of the few extant remains of Gothic MSS. the oldest ind most perfect is the Codex Argenteus of the Gospels, at Upsala, of the 6th century (Pal. Soc. pl. 118), written in characters which compare with purely written Greek MSS. of the same period. Other Gothic fragments appear in the sloping uncial hand seen in Greek MSS. of the 7th and following centuries. About the year 6eo Greek uncial writing passes into a new stage. We leave the period of the round and enter on that of the oval character. The letters E , e, Q, 0, instead of being symmetrically formed on the lines of a circle, are made oval; and other letters are laterally compressed into a narrow shape. In the 7th century also the writing begins to slope to the right, and accents are introduced and afterwards systematically applied. This slanting style of uncials continues in use through the 8th and 9th and into the loth centuries, becoming heavier as time goes on. In this class of writing there is again the same dearth of dated MSS. as in the round uncial, to serve as standards for the assignment of dates. We have to reach the 9th century before finding a single dated MS. in this kind of writing. It is true that sloping Greek uncial writing is found in a few scattered notes and glosses in Syriac MSS. which bear actual dates in the 7th century, and they are so far useful as showing that this hand was firmly established at that time; but they do not afford sufficient material in quantity to be of really practical use for comparison (see the tables of alphabets in Gardthausen's Griech. Palaog.). Of more value are a few palimpsest fragments of the Elements of Euclid and of Gospel Lectionaries which occur also in the Syriac collection in the British Museum, and are written in the 7th and 8th centuries. There is also in the Vatican a MS. (Reg. 886) of the Theodosian code, which can be assigned with fair accuracy to the close of the 7th century (Gardth. Gr. Pal. p. 158), which, however, being calligraphically written, retains some of the earlier rounder forms. This MS. may be taken as an example of transitional style. In the fragment of a mathematical treatise (fig. 14) from Bobio, forming part of a MS. rewritten in the 8th century and assignable to the previous century, the slanting writing is fully developed. The formation of the letters is good, and conveys the impression that the scribe was writing a hand quite natural to him:- -7/7-A-d f-7 ANTc7-7 l' y , lee nPacT/AAeTewpofY,tFPecTe/, FIG. 14.Mathernat. Treatise, 7th century. (7rpwr[ov] /L[ev] 'y[ap] 7ravr[os] orepEoU QXT]f.L[aros] 7rpOS 7L jrepoV EUXEp.crmp) It should be also noticed that in this MS.a secular onethere are numerous abbreviations (Wattenbach, Script. gr. specim. tab. 8). An important document of this time is also the fragment of papyrus in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which bears the signatures of bishops and others to the acts of the Council of Constantinople of 680. Some of the signatures are in slanting uncials (Wattenb., Script. gr. specim., tabb. 12, 13; Gardth., Gr. Pal. tab. 1). Of the 8th century is the collection of hymns (Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 26,113) written without breathings or accents (Cat. Anc. MSS. i. pl. 14). To the same century belongs the Codex Marcianus, the Venetian MS. of the Old Testament, which is marked with breathings and accents. The plate reproduced from this MS. (Wattenb., Script. gr. specim., tab. 9) contains in the second column a few lines written in round uncials, but in such a laboured style that nothing could more clearly prove the discontinuance of that form of writing as an ordinary hand. In the middle of the 9th century at length we find a MS. with a date in the Psalter of Bishop Uspensky of the year 862 (Wattenb. Script. gr. specim., tab. 1o). A little later in date is the MS. of Gregory of Nazianzus, written between 867 and 886 (Silvestre, pl. 71) ; and at the end of the 9th or beginning of the loth century stands a lectionary in the Harleian collection (Cat. Anc. MSS. i. pl. 17). A valuable series of examples is also given by Omont (Facsimiles des plus anc. MSS. grecs. de la Btbl. Nat.). But by this time minuscule writing was well established, and the use of the more inconvenient uncial was henceforth almost entirely confined to church-service books. Owing to this limitation uncial writing now underwent a further calligraphic change. As the loth century advances the sloping characters by degrees become more upright, and with this resumption of their old position they begin in the next century to cast off the compressed formation and again become rounder. All this is simply the result of calligraphic imitation. Bibles and service-books have always been the MSS. in particular on which finely formed writing has been lavished; and it was but natural that, when a style of writing fell into general disuse, its continuance, where it did continue, should become more and more traditional, and a work of copying rather than of writing. In the loth century there are a few examples bearing dates. There are facsimiles from three of them, viz. a copy of the Gospels (fig. 15), in the Vatican, of 949 (New Pal. Soc. pl. 105), the Curzon Lectionary of 98o, and the Harleian Lectionary of 995 (Pal. Soc. pls. 154, 26, 27). The Bodleian commentary on the Psalter (D. 4, ,) is likewise of great palaeographic value, being written partly in uncials and partly in minuscules of the middle of the loth century (Gardth., Gr. Pal. p. 159, tab. 2, col. 4). This late form of uncial writing appears to have lasted to about the middle of the 12th century. (Omont. Facs. pl. xxii.). From it was formed the Slavonic writing in use at the present day: / T' rw-,cF F AtN.fAnt- 1y 'tj&tAl/UFICA4A P1 C Al+K A! E IcTFIUA t n'-1N EI A-11 Amu X xyrroVolc~ErwN (aieywv + K[upL]E EAV OkXns' Sbvaval E KaOa pLoaL + sal 'isreivas TY/V XEIpa' r*Jaro abroi O Ibyrou]s Xiycav) Under the head of late uncial writing must be classed a few bilingual Graeco-Latin MSS. which have survived, written in a 566 bastard kind of uncial in the west of Europe. This writing follows, wherever the shapes of the letters permit, the formation of corresponding Latin charactersthe purely Greek forms being imitated in a clumsy fashion. Such MSS. are the Codex Augiensis of Trinity College, Cambridge, of the end of the 9th century (Pal. Soc. pl. 127) and the Psalter of St Nicholas of Cusa (pl. 128) and the Codex.Sangallensis and Boernerianus of the loth century (pl. 179). The same imitative characters are used in quotations of Greek words in Latin MSS. of the same periods. Minuscule Writing.The beautifully formed minuscule book-hand, which practically superseded the uncial book-hand in the 9th century, did not spring into existence all at once. Its formation had been the work of centuries. It was the direct descendant of the cursive Greek writing of the papyri. It has been shown above, in tracing the progress of the non-literary, cursive writing on papyrus, how the original forms of the letters of the Greek alphabet went through various modifications, always tending towards the creation of the forms which eventually settled down into the recognized minuscules or small letters of the middle ages and modern times. The development of these modifications is apparent from the first; but it was in the Byzantine period especially that the changes became more marked and more rapid. All the minuscule forms, as we know them in medieval literature, had been practically evolved by the end of the 5th century, and in the course of the next two hundred years those forms became more and more confirmed. In the large formal cursive writing of the documents of the 6th and 7th centuries we can pick out the minuscule alphabet in the rough. It only needed to be cast in a calligraphic mould to become the book-hand minuscule, the later development of which we have now to trace. This calligraphic mould seems to have been found in the imperial chancery; from whence issued documents written in a fine round minuscule hand on an ample scale, as appears from one or two rare surviving examples attributed to the 8th and 9t1 centuries (see the facsimile of an imperial letter, dated variously A.D. 756 or 839, in Wattenbach, Script. graec. specim., pls. xiv., xv., and in Omont, Facs. des plus anc. MSS. grecs. pls. xxvi., xxvii.; and Brit. Mus. papyrus xxxii.). The fine hand only needed to be reduced in scale to become the caligraphic minuscule book-hand of the vellum MSS.Thus, then, in the 9th century, the minuscule book-hand came into general use for literature, and, with the finely prepared vellum of the time ready to receive it, it assumed under the pens of expert calligraphers the requisite cast, upright, regular and symmetrical, which renders it in its earliest stages one of the most beautiful forms of writing ever created. Greek MSS. written in minuscules have been classed as follow: (1) codices vetustissimi, of the 9th century and to the middle of the loth century; (2) vetusti, from the middle of. the loth to the middle of the 13th century; (3) recentiores, from the middle of the 13th century to the fall of Constantinople, 1453; (4) novelli, all after that date. Of dated minuscule MSS. there is a not inconsiderable number scattered among the different libraries of Europe. Gardthausen (Gr. Pal. 344 seq.) gives a list of some thouland, ending at A.D. 1500. But, as might be expected, the majority belong to the later classes.' Of the 9th century there are not ten which actually bear dates and of these all but one belong to the latter half of the century. In the loth century, however, the number rises to nearly fifty, in the Iltb to more than a hundred. In the period of codices vetustissimi the minuscule hand is distinguished by its simplicity and purity. The period has been well described as the classic age of minuscules. The letters are symmetrically formed; the writing is compact and upright, or has even a slight tendency to slope to the left. In a word, the beauty of this class of minuscule writing is unsurpassed. But in addition to these general characteristics there are special 1 In Omont's Facs. des MSS. grecs dates de la Bibl. Nat. will be found a useful list of upwards of 300 facsimiles of dated Greek MSS. ,(including uncials).[VELLUM CODICES distinctions which belong to it. The minuscule character is maintained intact, without intrusion of larger or uncial-formed letters. With its cessation as the ordinary literary hand the uncial character had not died out, We have seen that it was still used for liturgical books. It likewise continued to survive in a modified or half-uncial form for scholia, rubrics, titles, and special purposesas, for example, in the Bodleian Euclid (fig. 16)in minuscule written MSS. of the 9th and loth centuries. These uses of the older character sufficed to keep it in remembrance, and it is therefore not a matter for surprise that some of its forms should reappear and commingle with the simple minuscule. This afterwards actually took place. But in the period now under consideration, when the minuscule had been cast into a new mould, and was, so to say, in the full vigour of youth, extraneous forms were rigorously excluded. ar,o-o Tan y c' P C T t Y'm y ' l - art Ce:r't rt. p i ~iul..r. . r tra4 'TxU r p 4, 2 Tp t Yarn au . tt r- -'Tis o Nl N (T v ct-6? 6-e, ter. '"- s~' rwJ o -"-m N (p }n {t :b-~r m 1 -as-P I O1LOJ" [` di cro t1-~-~ Tv~ o }rtau 'urF o ef FIG. i6.-Euclid (Oxford), A.D. 888, (iuro rivv OMN E TT Tpeywvwv enrtBETOL Gcoii~al apa EOTL Ta 7rpiQa[ra]jEV eto Ta AZP P. z Tpi7wva. aTa OMN ITT' &ere [a6]Ta o'TEpea rrTa aim Twv a p7jEVwv 7rpwwaT[wv] va ~vov>/ir~ r yxavovra' 7rpos a?A[tlXa]) The breathings also of this class are rectangular, in unison with the careful and deliberate character of the writing; and there is but slight, if any, separation of the words. In addition, as far as has hitherto been observed, the letters run above, or stand upon, the ruled lines, and do not depend from them as at a later period. The exact time at which this latter mechanical change took place cannot be named; like other changes it would naturally establish itself by usage. But at least in the middle of the loth century it seems to have been in use. In the Bodleian MS. of Basil's homilies of 953 A.D. (Pal. Soc. p1. 82) the new method is followed; and if we are to accept. the date of the 9th century ascribed to a MS. in the Ambrosian Library at Milan (Wattenb., Script. gr. specim., tab. 17), in which the ruled lines run above the writing, the practice was yet earlier. Certain scribal peculiarities, however, about the MS. make us hesitate to place it so early. In the Laurentian Herodotus (W and V., Exempla, tab. 31), which belongs to the loth century, sometimes the one, sometimes the other system is.. followed in different parts of the volume; , and the same peculiarity happens in the MS. of Gregory of Nazianzus of A.D. 972 in the British Museum (Pal. Soc. pl. 25; Exempla, tab. 7). The second half of the loth century therefore appears to be a period of transition in this respect. The earliest dated example of codices vetustissimi is the copy of the Gospels belonging to Bishop Uspensky, written in the year 835. , A facsimile is given by Gardthausen (Beitrage) and repeated in the Exempla (tab. 1). Better specimens have been photographed from the Oxford Euclid of A.D. 888 (Pal. Soc. pls. 65, 66; Exempla, tab. 2) from a MS. of Saints' Lives at Paris of A.D. 890 (Omont, Facs. des MSS. gr. dates, 'pl. I), and from the Oxford Plato (fig. 17) of A.D. 895 (Pal. Soc. p1. 81; Exempla, tab. 3). Sabas (Specim. Palaeograph.), has also given two facsimiles from MSS. of '88o and 899. Of dated examples of the first half of the loth century about a dozen facsimiles are available. After the middle of the loth century we enter on the period of the codices vetusti, in which the writing becomes gradually less compact. The letters, so to say, open their ranks; and, from this circumstance alone, MSS. of the second half of the century may generally be distinguished from those fifty years earlier. But alterations also take place in the shapes of the letters. Side by side with the purely minuscule forms those of the uncial begin to reappear, the cause of which innovation has already been explained. These uncial forms first show ,1cga' paua! IpLi.uuu%:xecreni pUUt suuLc p-46 I15i. O'DI'UMtitpowt%u masm igfrercgs 6pop : 'any ul+~}iout,: 'pac^IL-o-Pro 7cctt pQrnWl3msotd TeAersi.I OUT' Caves uroucrt; ccep j ~1Zt-~tt.Tt~L1. ! ! Q o p A+acro u-rourea p aw kuyyfY ttmoo' c(pT op [atryKe aXat]o icepeha EKQTEpOv; 9r&Pv EV aV: [etivac 4 7 ri. rd yatpew new." EWCOLc.' [O]oa roi yb'our icrrt TOUTOV o'U u/xova "EDTL /11) TQUTa. aXAa Ta 4 pOVE V. Kai TO [ra] TOUTWv all EtryeviJ 66Eav re 6p) themselves at the end of the line, the point at which most changes first gained a footing, but by degrees they work back into the text, and at length become recognized members of the minuscule characters. In the 11th and 12th centuries they are well established, and become more and more prominent by the large or stilted forms which they assume. The change, however, in the general character of the writing of this class of codices vetusti is very gradual, uniformity and evenness being well maintained, especially in church books. On the other hand, a lighter and more cursive kind of minuscule is found contemporaneously in MSS. generally of a secular nature. In this hand many of the classical MSS. of the loth or 11th centuries are written, as the MS. of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the Odyssey and the Apollonius Rhodius of the Laurentian Library at Florence, the Anthologia Palatina of Heidelberg and Paris, the Hippocrates of Venice (Exempla, tabb. 32-36, 38, 40), the Aristophanes of Ravenna (Wattenb., Script. gr. specim., tab. 26), the Strabo of Paris (Omont, Facs. des plus anc. MSS. grecs, pl. 40), a Demosthenes (fig. 18) at Florence (Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 88, 89), &c. In a facsimile from a Plutarch at Venice (Exempla, tab. 44), the scribe is seen to change from the formal to the more cursive hand. This style of writing is distinguishable by its light and graceful character from the current writing into which the minuscule degenerated at a later time. . 4 64p ast 4.vrmN ~lw a;X 644 td / 44daid~ q WLiae /Aojjag. law-144v o Tip C4r! o tJ A ,~C ,avmCa,a~es'2 I a e-auroaJ6i FIG. 18.-Demosthenes (Florence), early ixth century. (&veXZY SEC XEy6vTWV T6v&v EB[EXEW]ap6Xecpos Myos. tin &pa Kai 7rap'X'aya0a eipyao7EVoL Tcvls. ovS[Eves]-A'ayar r&s brcypaaros Ev- roiiB' Uj2IV Ova-VWVEra' TO E7ri[ypaa]rev A6yov it) avapes Oth vaioc) The gradual rounding of the rectangular breathings takes place in this period. In the 11th century the smooth breathing, which would most readily lend itself to this modification, first appears in the new form. In the course of the 12th century both breathings have lost the old square shape; and about the same time contractions become more numerous, having been at first confined to the end of the line. When the period of codices recentiores commences, the Greek ,t jr ar pe ~s a In Q'~ t optic .^,bvaspens sa.rw,v eou'CQIOOyOYNOL a t'OhOL MOP ws &pa wvi ras o / Xas gXXaf3ev a rrdp 66uvo-EVs aOv6ou apos youva KaOEteTo SouXLXollos) minuscule hand undergoes extensive changes. The contrast between MSS. of the 13th century and those of a hundred years earlier is very marked. In the later examples the hand is generally more straggling, there is a greater number of exaggerated forms of letters, and marks of contraction and accents are. dashed on more freely. There is altogether a sense of greater activity and haste. The increasing demand for books created a larger supply. Greater freedom and more variety appear in the examples of this class, together with an increasing use of ligatures and contractions. The general introduction of paper likewise assisted to break up the formal minuscule hand. To this rougher material a rougher style of writing was suited. Through the 14th and 15th centuries the decline of the set minuscule rapidly advances. The writing becomes even more involved and intricate, marks of contraction and accents are combined with the letters in a single action of the pen, and the general result is the production of a thoroughly cursive hand. In some respects, however, the change was not so rapid. Church books were still ordinarily written on vellum, which, as it became scarcer in the market (owing to the injury done to the trade by the competition of paper), was supplied from ancient codices which lay ready to hand on the shelves of libraries; and in these liturgical MSS. the more formal style of the minuscule was still maintained. In the 14th century there even appears a partial renaissance in the writing of Church MSS., modelled to some extent on the lines of the writing of the 12th century. The resemblance, however, is only superficial; for no writer can entirely disguise the character of the writing of his own time. And lastly there was yet another check upon the absolute disintegration of the minuscule book-hand in the 15th century exercised by the professional scribes who worked in Italy, and who in their calligraphical productions reverted again to the older style. The influence of the Renaissance is evident, in many of the MSS. of the Italian Greeks, which served as models for the first Greek printing types. The Greek minuscule book-hand had, then, by the end of the 15th century, become a cursive hand, from which the modern current hand is directly derived. We last saw the ancient cursive in use in the documents prior to the formation of the set minuscule book-hand, and no doubt it continued in use concurrently with the book-hand. But, as the latter passed through the transformations which have been traced, and gradually assumed a more current style, it may not unreasonably be sup-posed that it absorbed the cursive hand of the period, and with it whatever elements may have survived of the old cursive hand. End of Article: GREEK WRITING If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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