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Scribal Profile
Adam Pinkhurst
Profiles for this Scribe:
9. Wales, Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS Peniarth 393D
 
Current Manuscript:Wales, Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS Peniarth 393D
Folios:1-27r
Sampled Folios:7r, 11r, 13v, 14r, 15r
Example Page:Display a full page showing this scribe's hand
Image Rights:Reproduced by permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales. 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: nat
double compartment 'a' used as the lower case letter more or less throughout. The top of 'a' is sometimes above the top level of surrounding graphs.
Usage: and
very occasionally a single compartment 'a' can be found.
Usage: Al
a distinctive form of upper case 'A'. This version may be found, often with double slash decoration on either lead-in stroke or left arm, in the Hengwrt and Ellesmere manuscripts copied by Adam Pinkhurst.
Usage: Autompne
a more conventional upper case 'A'.
 
D
Usage: demaundes
(first 'd') the lobe of lower case 'd' is squarish in shape. The loop may be restricted to the width of the graph or extended as in other versions shown.
Usage: despenden
upper loop of 'd' arching back beyond the extent of the lower lobe.
Usage: qd
on the folios examined, tagged final 'd' is only used in this 'quod' contraction.
Usage: god
the point at the left side of the loop contributes to the angular aspect of the hand.
 
G
Usage: rekenynge
double compartment, anglicana 'g' used most frequently. This version is typical of Pinkhurst's 'g's with protruding tag at the upper right of the lower compartment. However, this feature may be found in the hands of many scribes of this period.
Usage: gouerned
single compartment 'g' is used on more than one occasion. If, as might appear, this manuscript is an early example of this scribe's literary copyings, it may be that he used graphs which were in daily use in documentary copying which he undertook.
Usage: thynges
'g' with lower compartment not quite closed. Again this is a feature of other scribes at this time, including Scribe D.
Usage: thyng
'g' in final position in a word and the last word in the line. The extra down-stroke attached to the horizontal tag is just visible. In the Hengwrt and Ellesmere manuscripts it is used frequently.
 
H
Usage: why
the tail stroke from the limb of 'h' is usually neatly tucked away beneath the letter.
Usage: al though
crossed 'h' after 'g'.
Usage: howre
occasionally the tail has a final flick counter-clockwise.
Usage: Heu
forked head of 'H' from the Latin incipit. This is similar to the forked heads of some graphs in the Merthyr fragment.
 
R
Usage: maker
long 'r' used most of the time in all positions. The fork usually occurs at or just below the lower level of surrounding graphs.
Usage: certes
modern 'r' is used occasionally.
Usage: fortimous
'z'-shaped 'r' used after 'o'. In some examples, there is an otiose stroke descending from the lower left of the graph.
Usage: Remembrestow
 
S
Usage: swich
sigma 's' used as the initial letter. Long 's' is also used occasionally in initial position.
Usage: thynges
8-shaped 's' used in final position. As with 'a', the head of 's' is usually slightly above the upper level of surrounding graphs.
Usage: Richesses
long 's' used very occasionally as the first letter of a word but always used in medial position. Where two occur together, the head of the first 's' is always slightly lower than the second.
Usage: Set
upper case 'S' decorated with red ink.
 
W
Usage: werk
in this manuscript, 'w' is consistently formed as in this example. In Pinkhurst's other manuscripts, 'w' becomes much more flamboyant with arms extending similar to the example in version 4.
Usage: with
Usage: Remembrestow what
Usage: woltow
 
Y
Usage: vyne
'y' is sometimes dotted.
Usage: constreyned
the tail of 'y' varies in length. The fork occurs at or near the line, usually level with the base line of surrounding graphs.
Usage: shynynge
the first 'y' in this example shows the vertical left limb of the graph remarked upon by Doyle and Parkes.
Usage: seyn
 
Distinctive Features of the hand
Usage: the
the identifying mark of Adam Pinkhurst to the right of the ascender of 'h'. The decoration of the ascenders is done in rubric as are the Pinkhurst marks. They must have been applied after the text had been copied.
Usage: reso(u)n
the curved macron seen here is typical of the scribe. Sometimes there are two slashes across the curve. The parallel virgules following the word are also found frequently in manuscripts copied by Pinkhurst. The wedge-shaped paragraphus is used in the prose in Hengwrt, Ellesmere and the Equatorie texts, perhaps suggesting usage by Chaucer himself?
Usage: Set cum Racionum iam in te &
there are several notable features of this decorated rubric. The rubric box resembles many to be found in Peniarth 392D (Hengwrt Chaucer). It is closed at the right side with Pinkhurst's decorative knot. The rubric decoration has been applied after the text was copied.
Usage: Cum p(ri)mo polo
again the shape of the containing box for the rubric is much the same as those featured in the Hengwrt Chaucer.
 
Serendipity
Usage: the or
Doyle and Parkes remark that the Hengwrt/Ellesmere scribe sometimes used a joining stroke between the last letter of a word and the following virgule (Copies p. 174). Here the original stroke is somewhat obscured by the red ink highlighting of the virgule but this feature can be seen on a number of occasions on the folios examined.
Usage: clepe I
a very similar 'I' can be seen in the Merthyr fragment. Although used frequently in this manuscript, it is not the version found in the Hengwrt and Ellesmere Chaucers. The horizontal stroke to the left at the foot and the return stroke to the shaft forming a triangle shape may also be seen in version 3 of 'A'.
Usage: But
blue lombard initials with red flourishing define the section divisions of the text.
Usage: Decorated ascenders on the top line of folio 7r.
 
Upper Case letters
Usage: Primum
upper case 'P' with an approach stroke more angled than usual. The vertical line decoration does not complete the bisection of the lobe.
Usage: Cum
double parallel lines as decoration.
Usage: Now
one version of Pinkhurst's upper case 'N'.
Usage: Philosophie
in this example the bisection of the lobe is completed.
 
Thorn
Usage: þt
thorn is used rarely. The scribe may choose to use the thorn graph if space is a problem.
Usage: þe
this word occurs at the end of a line and thorn may have been used so that the word would be contained within the ruled box.
Usage: Punctus Elevatus
used for major pauses.
Usage: Ampersand
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP