Scribal Profile Unknown | |
| Current Manuscript: | England, London, British Library MS Harley 614 |
| Folios: | 1-242 |
| Sampled Folios: | 5r, 173v |
| Example Page: | Display a full page showing this scribe's hand |
| Image Rights: | Reproduced with permission of The British Library. All images on this website are reproduced with permission of the Libraries, Archives, and Owners of the manuscripts. Manuscript images that appear on this website remain in the copyright of the libraries where the manuscripts are held. Use of these images for any purpose other than private study without written permission of those libraries is prohibited by law. |
| A | |||
 | Usage: as this scribe's letter forms are not all consistently formed. He has a number of variants for each graph and both upper and lower levels of his script appear uneven. For 'a' he uses both the single and double compartment variants. |  | Usage: and straight sided, double compartment lower case 'a' is not used with any frequency but appears from time to time for no particular reason. |
 | Usage: naþelees the scribe has various ways of writing single compartment 'a'. In version 1 the right down-stroke is straight. In this version there is a small angled stroke at the head which then joins with a fine line to the following graph. |  | Usage: gardeynes here the compartment is angular with point at the lower left. The fine hairline stroke joining the two sides of the graph extends beyond the head of the graph. |
| D | |||
 | Usage: bodily a neatly formed 'd' towards the beginning of the manuscript. |  | Usage: medicyne most of the scribe's 'd's follow this pattern with the looped stroke turning before completion of the loop and ending with a hairline stroke extending beyond the left side of the lower compartment. |
 | Usage: Exod a 'd' with tag perhaps to indicate missed letters. The scribe does not automatically tag final 'd'. |  | Usage: Denys the scribe's upper case 'D' graph. |
| G | |||
 | Usage: goost 'g' has an upper compartment which is oval in shape. The tail of 'g' rests mainly on the line and is joined to the upper compartment with a hairline stroke forming a triangular compartment. |  | Usage: frogge a rather squashed version of 'g' in the second example. |
 | Usage: vundirstondyng 'g' in final position with oblique tag. |  | Usage: gardeynes the scribe rarely uses this more conventional form of double compartment 'g'. |
| H | |||
 | Usage: herbes 'h' is probably the most consistently formed graph. The head loop is triangular, the limb is a thick straight stroke which ends in a fine tail-stroke ending on or just below the line. |  | Usage: schortly the 'ch' combination. |
 | Usage: Bartholomei an 'h' in a gloss in the hand of the scribe. |  | Usage: holden an angled limb with hairline tail set almost at right angles to the end of the stroke. |
| R | |||
 | Usage: repemen modern 'r' is used in all positions. |  | Usage: Maistir in final position there may be a small upward turn of the shoulder. |
 | Usage: schortly 'z'-shaped 'r' is used quite frequently and is not confined to use after 'o'. |  | Usage: Rubrica an upper case graph looking very much like a modern upper case 'R'. |
| S | |||
 | Usage: seiþ sigma 's' and long 's' are both used in initial position. |  | Usage: sleepe long 's' is used initially and medially. The stem of 's' ends more or less on the line. As the scribe tends to write some way above the line, long 's' ends just below the level of surrounding graphs. |
 | Usage: philosofris in the early folios of the manuscript, kidney 's' is used in final position. |  | Usage: hondis later in the manuscript, kidney 's' is replaced by this version of the scribe's 8-shaped 's' with upper lobe smaller than lower lobe. The graph has an angular appearance. |
| W | |||
 | Usage: werk in most of the scribe's 'w' graphs, the two arms are of more or less equal height with the 'B'-shaped element to the right almost at the same level. Note how far above the line the scribe copies the text. |  | Usage: wrappinges a few of the scribe's 'w's are slightly variant as here. |
 | Usage: bouwis occasionally the arms stand higher than the third element. |  | Usage: wt 'with' is frequently contracted to this form. |
| Y | |||
 | Usage: ordeyned the left arm of 'y' is almost straight. The fork is above the line and depending on how much above the line, the tail may finish at the line or just below. |  | Usage: diuynyte |
 | Usage: wosynge this image shows how the scribe has difficulty in following a straight line. The word slants up so that even the tail of 'y' ends at the line. The tail of 'g' is way above the line. |  | Usage: growynge the uneven nature of the script may be clearly seen. Neither upper nor lower level of the graphs is even. |
| Thorn and Yogh | |||
 | Usage: foloweþ thorn is used frequently for verb endings, definite articles, adjectives and pronouns. It is a squat letter with squarish lobe attached to a short stem which rests on the line. |  | Usage: þ(er)on |
 | Usage: ȝeue yogh is also used fairly often both for the 'y' sound and also for 'gh'. |  | Usage: liȝtly |
| Upper Case A | |||
 | Usage: Also the scribe has a number of upper case 'A' graphs as well as a more conventional anglicana two-compartment version. |  | Usage: Also |
 | Usage: And |  | Usage: ÞAnne |
| Upper Case Letters | |||
 | Usage: Therfore yellow paint tipping the upper case graphs. |  | Usage: By an unusual upper case 'B'. |
 | Usage: In |  | Usage: WE an unusual form of 'E' with serrated left side. |
| Decoration | |||
 | Usage: Historiated initial with the figure of St Christopher from the beginning of the Prohemium on f5r. |  | Usage: Illuminated initial at the beginning of the first book. |
 | Usage: Pen-work flourished initial of thorn at the beginning of a chapter. |  | Usage: The lower corner boss of the illuminated border on f5r. |