Scribal Profile John Shirley | |
| Profiles for this Scribe: | 1. Cambridge, Trinity College MS R. 3. 20 (600) |
| Current Manuscript: | Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.3.20 (600) |
| Folios: | 1r-368 |
| Sampled Folios: | 116r, 130r, 367r |
| Example Page: | Display a full page showing this scribe's hand |
| Image Rights: | Reproduced by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. 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: Whane single compartment 'a' with pointed head. |  | Usage: a 'a' as it occurs in the title of Chaucer's poem to Adam. |
 | Usage: Adam the scribe's upper case 'A'. |  | Usage: And |
| D | |||
 | Usage: ladyes looped 'd' used throughout. |  | Usage: and 'd' in final position with tag as a continuation from the loop stroke. |
 | Usage: double the word occurs in the title. |  | Usage: goddes |
| G | |||
 | Usage: gentil tailed 'g' with curled horn at the head. |  | Usage: long 'g' in final position with tag attached to the continuation of the horizontal slash. |
 | Usage: Geffrey from the introduction to the 'Complaint to Mars'. | ||
| H | |||
 | Usage: hee 'h' always has a looped head-stroke. |  | Usage: byhynde the tail-stroke descends in a clockwise direction then turns counter-clockwise. |
 | Usage: He a more elaborate graph for the upper case letter. |  | Usage: night crossed 'h' in 'ght' combination. |
| R | |||
 | Usage: vnder the 'e' can be seen at the left side of the letter. Long 'r' used infrequently on this folio. |  | Usage: hir modern 'r' used in all positions. The stem of 'r' is a curved stroke which loops round to complete the graph. |
 | Usage: mortel 'z'-shaped 'r' used after 'e' on this folio. |  | Usage: Retourne upper case 'R' with arching approach stroke. |
| S | |||
 | Usage: his kidney-shaped 's' used in final position. |  | Usage: punyshment long 's' used initially and medially. |
 | Usage: scryveyne long 's' in initial position. The head-stroke often comes off the stem below the top. |  | Usage: She upper case 'S'. |
| W | |||
 | Usage: werke the scribe has two forms of 'w'. In this form the limbs are diagonal strokes, the compartment to the right is square. |  | Usage: lowe looped 'w' used interchangeably with 'w' with straight arms as seen in version 1. |
 | Usage: With arching left arm of the first stroke of this graph. |  | Usage: wymmen |
| Y | |||
 | Usage: yee a pronounced curve as the lead-in stroke. The tail of 'y' frequently curves back below previous letters before turning counter-clockwise. |  | Usage: hertely Shirley frequently curls the tail of 'y' up and over the letter. |
 | Usage: Yee |  | Usage: may the word occurs at the end of a line hence the sort of 'signing off' feature at the end. Shirley occasionally includes a curved stroke above the letter. |
| m, n | |||
 | Usage: mortel where 'm' or 'n' occur in initial position, Shirley always uses a long curved approach stroke. |  | Usage: noble |
 | Usage: may |  | Usage: noon |
| L | |||
 | Usage: Looke a remarkably modern-looking upper case 'L' bisected by the lower strokes of 'Ff' on the line above. |  | Usage: Loo this word occurs in the incipit so is perhaps a little more elaborate. |
 | Usage: Lifft the first word of the folio. |  | Usage: Loo |
| Thorn | |||
 | Usage: haþe Shirley makes frequent use of thorn for 'th' throughout. The stem is long and tapering. |  | Usage: beginneþe thorn used in the incipit. |
 | Usage: Þat the initial letter of a line in an upper case position. |  | Usage: þy thorn on the bottom line with tail extended into decorative swirls in the lower margin. |