Illuminated Manuscripts & Calligraphy From the Latin word “manu” meaning hand and “script” meaning writing, throughout the Middle Ages all documents were handwritten. This form of writing was used by the upper middle class and the church. Power and wealth were displayed in the type of manuscripts produced along with the decorative type of calligraphy used by a scribe. 1. 1st – 4th century 8th - 12th c. Roman Square Capitals Carolingian This type is the basis of the modern In a desire to re-unify the Roman alphabet. Developed as carved lettering for Empire, this was created as a single use in Roman monuments, from a distance unified lettering style for all of they are easy to read. To use these letters in Europe. Later, carolingian perfectly fit a document symbolized power and authority the needs of Spanish manuscripts with within the Roman Empire. Moorish geometric motifs. 1st – 14th c. 12th - 15th c. Old Roman Cursive Black Letter This calligraphy style is considered to be Evolved from carolingian, the letters document hand writing and was widely used were compressed, elongated and angularized. The result is similar of in written business and legal documents. the dramatic gothic architecture 3rd – 7th c. 12th - 15th c. New Roman Cursive An evolved version of Old Roman Cursive Rotunda Developed parallel with black letter, calligraphy, it was developed when the need rotunda was southern European while for informally written business documents black letter was mostly northern. had increased. This version showed a Rotunda letters were more variety of the individual letters. compressed than carolingian while 4th - 5th c. retaining generous rounded arches. Rustics 15th c. Originally brush made letters, this style was Humanist what ancient Roman graffiti artists used. Named after the humanistic scholars Later rustic script were used for titles only in 1400 Florence, this was a backlash in medieval manuscripts. against the tight& less-readable black letter. Humanist was a rediscovery and 5th - 12th c. interpretation of carolingian. Uncial and Half Uncial 15th - 16th c. First developed as Roman styles, these Irish letters are the first truly medieval styles. Italic The typical decorative themes used with Developed alongside with humanist, these styles were intricate knotwork patterns italic was used by the Papal Chancery with interlaced vines or animals. Uncial for briefs and Papal Bulls. Having lettering was sometimes done as gold many cursive characteristics, italic lettering. was designed to be written quickly. 7th – 19th c. 15th - 16th c Insular Script/Minuscule Black Letter Cursive/Batarde This lettering was described as a horrible These lettering styles are variations of old script which showed various difficulties a merging of the cursive in classification and was adversely hard to characteristics of italic and the read. Other pre-Carolingian scripts included angular, compressed characteristics of late English document hand, Merovingian black letter. Usually called batarde, minuscule and insular half uncial. this is a polite way of calling them "bastard" lettering styles. .