page_title: Palaeography
section_title: National hands
hierarchical_section_title: Palaeography / Latin / Minuscule cursive writing / National hands
caption_attribution_description: English: This well-preserved manuscript of the Origo gentis Langobardorum, which contains the saga of the Scandinavian origins of the Lombards, dates to the 10th century, presumably to Reims. Written in red ink on the upper edge of leaf 2v is an ownership notice of the cloister Saint-Remis in Reims. The manuscript contains no miniatures. On the other hand, it is written in a sophisticated and regular Carolingian minuscule. This manuscript is held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Ms. Phil. 1886). It was photographed while on display from 22 August 2008 to 11 January 2009 in the exhibition "Die Langobarden. Das Ende der Völkerwanderung" at the Rheinisches LandesMuseum Bonn. Deutsch: Die Handschrift enthält die Origo gentis Langobardorum, die Herkunftssage der Langobarden. Der Sage nach stammen die Langobarden aus Skandinavien. Die gut erhaltene Handschrift entstand im 10. Jahrhundert vermutlich in Reims. Am oberen Rand von Blatt 2v steht ein mit roter Tinte geschriebener Besitzervermerk des Klosters Saint-Remis in Reims. Miniaturen sind nicht vorhanden. Dafür zeichnet sich die Handschrift durch eine sehr anspruchsvoll und regelmäßige karolingische Minuskel aus. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Ms. Phil. 1886). Exponat in der Ausstellung „Die Langobarden. Das Ende der Völkerwanderung“ vom 22.08.2008-11.01.2009 im Rheinischen LandesMuseum Bonn.
context_page_description: Palaeography or paleography is the study of ancient and historical handwriting. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of scriptoria.
  The discipline is one of the auxiliary sciences of history. It is important for understanding, authenticating, and dating ancient texts. However, it generally cannot be used to pinpoint dates with high precision.
context_section_description: The fall of the Empire and the establishment of the barbarians within its former boundaries did not interrupt the use of the Roman minuscule cursive hand, which was adopted by the newcomers. But for gaps of over a century in the chronological series of documents which have been preserved, it would be possible to follow the evolution of the Roman cursive into the so-called "national hands", forms of minuscule writing which flourished after the barbarian invasions in Italy, France, Spain, England and Ireland, and which are still known as Lombardic, Merovingian, Visigothic, Anglo-Saxon and Irish. These names came into use at a time when the various national hands were believed to have been invented by the peoples who used them, but their connotation is merely geographical. Nevertheless, in spite of a close resemblance which betrays their common origin, these hands are specifically different, perhaps because the Roman cursive was developed by each nation in accordance with its artistic tradition.
  Lombardic writing
  In Italy, after the close of the Roman and Byzantine periods, the writing is known as Lombardic, a generic term which comprises several local varieties. These may be classified under four principal types: two for the scriptura epistolaris, the old Italian cursive and the papal chancery hand, or littera romana, and two for the libraria, the old Italian book-hand and Lombardic in the narrow sense, sometimes known as Beneventana on account of the fact that it flourished in the principality of Benevento.
  The oldest preserved documents written in the old Italian cursive show all the essential characteristics of the Roman cursive of the 6th century. In northern Italy, this hand began in the 9th century to be influenced by a minuscule book-hand which developed, as will be seen later, in the time of Charlemagne; under this influence it gradually disappeared, and ceased to exist in the course of the 12th century. In southern Italy, it persisted far on into the later Middle Ages. The papal chancery hand, a variety of Lombardic peculiar to the vicinity of Rome and principally used in papal documents, is distinguished by the formation of the letters a, e, q, t. It is formal in appearance at first, but is gradually simplified, under the influence of the Carolingian minuscule, which finally prevailed in the bulls of Honorius II (1124–1130). The notaries public in Rome continued to use the papal chancery hand until the beginning of the 13th century. The old Italian book-hand is simply a semi-cursive of the type already described as in use in the 6th century. The principal examples are derived from scriptoria in northern Italy, where it was displaced by the Carolingian minuscule during the 9th century.  In southern Italy, this hand persisted, developing into a calligraphic form of writing, and in the 10th century took on a very artistic angular appearance. The Exultet rolls provide the finest examples. In the 9th century, it was introduced in Dalmatia by the Benedictine monks and developed there, as in Apulia, on the basis of the archetype, culminating in a rounded Beneventana known as the Bari type.
  Merovingian
  The offshoot of the Roman cursive which developed in Gaul under the first dynasty of kings is called Merovingian writing. It is represented by thirty-eight royal diplomas, a number of private charters and the authenticating documents of relics.
  Though less than a century intervenes between the Ravenna cursive and the oldest extant Merovingian document (AD 625), there is a great difference in appearance between the two writings. The facile flow of the former is replaced by a cramped style, in which the natural slope to the right gives way to an upright hand, and the letters, instead of being fully outlined, are compressed to such an extent that they modify the shape of other letters. Copyists of books used a cursive similar to that found in documents, except that the strokes are thicker, the forms more regular, and the heads and tails shorter. The Merovingian cursive as used in books underwent simplification in some localit
caption: A 10th-century codex of Origo gentis Langobardorum from Reims
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