Hand: kappa, Exeter 3500

Name
kappa
Manuscript
Exeter 3500
Script
Unspecified
Scribe
Unspecified
Date
None
Place
None

EXON Project

This hand may be recognised by its neat and elegant nature; the round, open tail of g; low form of s; u-shaped horizontal bar of et nota; shape of ampersand. Slightly smaller than hands around it.

1. Letterforms

a.- Uncial form with a back stroke that rises above the bowl (even if slightly). Even when it does, it does not lean over it.

d.- Round-backed form preferred. Ascender rises at 45º and ends in a vertical hairline.

e.- Round form with thin (hairline) projecting tongue rising at about 45º (only visible when at word-end. At line end, tongue is extended into the remaining space or event into the margin (343v13)

g.- Round head with finishing stroke ligaturing with following letter. Tail is round and remains open. Occasionally, it may be flat at the bottom. In some instances, a finishing flick is visible at the end of tail as if aiming to close it (visible in 343v14)

h.- Right leg is thinner and tucks in, although it stays on the baseline.

p.- Approach stroke and occasionally wide head, which is more square than round. Descender is comparatively short and simple (no foot or finishing flick).

s.- Rather short form, reaching just over the headline. Top tends to curve to nearly touch on the following letter. It shows a hood on the left of the shaft at about headline, and it stands on the baseline.

t.- Vertical stroke does not cut across horizontal one.

x.- Equal-limbed form. Both lower limbs stand on the baseline.

2. Treatment of minims, ascenders & descenders

Minims .- All footed with finishing stroke to the right; about 2mm high.

Ascenders.- About minim height (2mm), they show a bifurcation at the top forming a wedge on the left.

Descenders.- Normally rather short (just over 1mm), esp those of p and q (tail of g is normally longer). They are normally rather simple with no finishing strokes or feet.

3. Form of capitals

A. Enlarged minuscule form with rather small bowl (324v5).

E. Rustic form with top horizontal stroke in a very similar fashion to macron found next to it (Episcopus 120v11).

4. Forms of punctuation

Punctus simplex seems to be only form of punctuation in use for most part. One potential instance of punctus versus in 343v9.

5. Form of paraph (gallows mark)

Top left corner is rounded in what appears a single upward stroke finished on a hairline. Extra stroke used to finish the bottom of the vertical stroke, also on a hairline. Third stroke closing the angle is also rounded and cuts across the vertical side. In most other instances is obvious that the round angle is formed by two separate strokes neatly meeting there. (343v7)

Neat 90º angle formed.

6. Forms of abbreviation

Ampersand.- Rather small bowl, with diagonal stroke slightly extended at times (occasionally reaching just below the baseline). Finishing stroke is often rather high along this diagonal shaft and may touch the form’s eye. It may also be extended and start on an approach stroke at or over the headline.

et nota.- Only used with numerals, at times within them (no punctuation to separate them). Horizontal bar is in the form of a u, while descender is straight and of varying lengths (it may stay on the baseline or reach as far as 2mm down).

Overline.- Single quick stroke that starts horizontal but ends as a hairline flick up.

-ur.- 2-shaped form with wavy horizontal component.

-us.- .

-orum.-.

q- forms.-

e cauda.- Forked form, similar to a y.

pr- forms.- Downward curl in pro, is often closed (343v12).

other forms.-

est.- Found only once (?) in 343v13.

7. Forms of suspension

8. Ligatures

-ae-

-ct- ligature:.

-rt- ligature:

-st- ligature: .

-or-: 120v14.

9. Method and form of annotation (signes de renvoi?)

10. Method of correction and correction mark

Dot underneath wrong letter and correct form on top (Baldeinus 120v12).

Erasure (120v12)

Erasure and written over (120v16)

11. Treatment of numerals

Between dots, although this scribe does not separate them from the ampersands or et notae used next to them.

12. Proportions and measurements

Codicology

- Pricking.-

- Ruling.-

13. Other idiosyncrasies (preferred spellings, usages, …)

-

What does he write?

Bishop of Exeter (Dn) – 120v11-16

Judhael of Totnes (Dn) – 324v4-9

Ralph de La Pommeraye (Dn) – 343v7-15

Previously unidentified stints (Flight)

Terrae Occupatae (Dn) – 504r12-15

Other relevant information

Stint 324v4-9 is about five lines of an entry which is finished by ‘delta’. This is found among a long stint (5 pages) by ‘delta’. Could most of this page have been copied on top of erased text? It may even seem that there are two separate rulings on this page (not so obvious on recto).

Stint 343v7-15 is rather peculiar in comparison to the other two in which this hand seems to appear:

- last five lines are copied in a much thicker nib than usual for this hand (compare with top five lines in this stint)

- certain features found here (esp. those last 5 lines) are not found elsewhere (extended finishing strokes into remaining line space or margin at line end; abbreviation for est; absence of et nota; overall letter size is considerably bigger (eg. the average height of round d is about 3mm in the first five lines, whereas in the bottom fine it reaches nearly 5mm from the baseline); example of final high s.

a, Caroline

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa

a, Caroline. kappa
b

b. kappa

b. kappa
d, Angled-back

d, Insular. kappa

d, Insular. kappa

d, Insular. kappa

d, Insular. kappa

d, Insular. kappa

d, Insular. kappa
d, Caroline

d, Caroline. kappa

d, Caroline. kappa
e

e. kappa

e. kappa

e. kappa

e. kappa

e. kappa
f, Caroline

f, Caroline. kappa

f, Caroline. kappa
g, Caroline

g, Caroline. kappa

g, Caroline. kappa

g, Caroline. kappa

g, Caroline. kappa

g, Caroline. kappa

g, Caroline. kappa
h, Caroline

h, Caroline. kappa

h, Caroline. kappa
i

i. kappa

i. kappa

i. kappa
l

l. kappa

l. kappa

l. kappa
p

p. kappa

p. kappa

p. kappa

p. kappa

p. kappa
q

q. kappa

q. kappa

q. kappa

q. kappa

q. kappa
r, 2-shaped

r, 2-shaped. kappa

r, 2-shaped. kappa
r, Caroline

r, Caroline. kappa
s, Caroline

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa

s, Caroline. kappa
s, Round

s, Round. kappa

s, Round. kappa
u

u. kappa
x

x. kappa

x. kappa

x. kappa

x. kappa

x. kappa

x. kappa
7

7. kappa

7. kappa
&

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa

&. kappa
Gallows Mark

Gallow Mark. kappa

Gallow Mark. kappa

Gallow Mark. kappa

Gallow Mark. kappa
overline, abbrev. stroke

abbrev. stroke. kappa

abbrev. stroke. kappa

abbrev. stroke. kappa