Insular Minuscule

The main script used in “dark age” Britain, Insular Minuscule is my style of choice.

In use from the 6th century onwards, and common from the 7th, Insular Minuscule developed from earlier, more formal, scripts as a swifter hand more suited to everyday use. Although its decline began in the tenth century, as Caroline Minuscule and Anglo-Caroline replaced it when writing texts in Latin, insular minuscule lasted longer in the vernacular, and was in continuous use into the 20th century in Ireland for writing Gaelic!

Below are some simple example texts to demonstrate the versatility of Insular Minuscule.

An Old English version of Psalm 23.

Below is a quite closely written single sheet, filled by an Old-English translation of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”) from the tenth century. This is also featured in the header picture at the top of each page. It includes period (lack of) punctuation, and the ”₇” abbreviation for “and” similar to the modern ”&” (ampersand). You can also see the letters eth (”ð”) and thorn (”þ”), which both represent a “th” sound, “s” looking similar to ”_f”, “r” similar to a “p” or ”_R” and “w” represented by “wynn”, which is also similar to a “p” (for example the second letter of the last word on the top line). Click on the picture for a closer look: you can even see the knife-scored lines to write on.

A verse of poetry in Old Norse.

The wider spacing between lines in the next text is more authentic – it’s twice the height of a typical letter such as “m” rather than equal to it. This is an Old Norse stanza of Skaldic Verse, an intricate form invoving a complex pattern of rhyme, alliteration and assonance to which normal grammar and word order can often be subordinate. Skaldic verse is generally associated with named authors, such as Egil Skallagrimsson, hero of Egils Saga, which is why I decided to write my name at the end of this composition, although really there shouldn’t be such a “signature”. While this was a form of court raise poetry that could have pagan overtones (but was rapidly adopted for Christian uses too), it is also used in the sagas to compliment friends and tell secrets. It takes a long time to compose, but finishing a stanza is very satisfying. I can compose Skaldic Verse on demand, but be aware that it takes a lot of time, and my verses aren’t all that good: hence the nickname scaldrfiflinn which means “the piping poet.”

A short Latin Charter.

In the final two images on this page, from an abbreviated copy I made of an eighth century charter of Offa of Mercia, we can see Insular Minuscule being used to write in Latin – two centuries later, it would have been largely superceded in this function by Anglo-Caroline. There are a number of abbreviations used in this text, many of them indicated by a macron (”-”) above one of the letters in a word. While some of these would be standard, others might be made up on the spot by the scribe, which can contribute significantly to the challenge of transribing a text! While the main text is in Latin, the boundary clauses are in Old English, so that lay men can clearly understand what land this legal donation is refering to. The attestation following the signatory cross at the end (on the right) shows the difference made by how finely a quill’s nib is cut: the size of writing can be effectively halved, but
the writing is slower and the nib more difficult to keep sharp enough to write with. The last word in the picture is an abbreviation for “Christus”. On the left, you can begin to see how difficult it is to persuade a sheet of parchment to lie flat, once it has been folded.

Psalm 23 – the text.

Here is a transcription of the 23rd Psalm in Old English provided to me by a friend, that I then used in my copy. Oddly, I now can’t find this particular version anywhere at all. The very common word ”ond” is expanded from its abbreviated form ”₇” in bold:

drihten me ræt ne byð me nanes godes wan ond he me geset on swiðe good feohland ond fedde me be wætera staðum ond min mod gehwyrfde of unrotnesse on gefean. he me gelædde ofer þa wegas rihtwisnesse for his naman. þeah ic nu gange on midde þa sceade deaðes ne ondræde ic me nan yfel forþam þu byst mid me drihten þin gyrd ond þin stæf me afrefredon þæt is þin þreaung ond
eft þin frefrung þu gegearwodest beforan me swiðe bradne beod wið þara willan þe me hatedon. þu gesmiredest me mid ele min heafod Drihten hu mære þin folc nu is ælce dæge hit symblað ond folgie me nu þin mild heortnes ealles dagas mine lifes

More abbreviations.

This is a reference note I keep of some common abbreviations, for when I have a memory blank and for showing to people. These are all Latin, and relate to Charters and religious writings – it would be extremely unusual to donate land without making religious references so Dominus,Christus, sancti and nostri were all helpfully standardised.

A macron over a vowel at the end of a word, ”-” indicates that it should be read as being followed by an “m” or occasionally an “n”. This is very common, as most datives in Old English end ”-um” and so do many Latin words, and “m” is quite a wide letter. Abbreviating it in this manner saves time and space, significant concerns for both mediæval and modern scribes daunted by the value of parchment and the slow speed of accurate copying.