HALF-UNCIALS
To this form of writing in its full development the title of “Half-Uncial” has been given. It was employed as far back as the fifth century for writing MSS. It may have been used because it could be written more quickly than the ordinary uncial; anyway, it seems to have been very extensively used as a literary hand. This style is very important, as it marks the beginning of the change from majuscule to minuscule writing. These characters were generally formed with a straight-cut pen.
IRISH HALF-UNCIALS
Writing in the British Isles was greatly different from that used on the Continent. On the Continent the hand was developed from the Roman cursive writing, while in England and Ireland the Roman Half-Uncial was the starting-point of development.
There is not the slightest doubt but that the rise of Christianity in the British Isles had a great deal to do with the development of the book-hand. It is a well-known fact that the Christian missionaries from Rome brought with them a number of MSS. which may have served as models for the native scribes. These were probably written in Roman half-uncials, which would account for the manner in which the Irish handwriting developed. Evidently no MSS. written in pure uncials came to Ireland; anyway, there seems to be no reason to suppose that such was the case, as no MS. of this type has been found that may be claimed to be purely Irish without any shadow of doubt.
Early Irish writing is in two forms, round and pointed. The round hand is distinctly half-uncial. Although it is most difficult to state the earliest date of the Irish MSS., the general opinion is that they date back at least as far as the seventh century. The famous Book of Kells is a well-known example of Irish half-uncials. The pointed writing was developed in the eighth and ninth centuries. This is probably a development of the round hand, and in course of time became the Irish national hand.
ENGLISH HALF-UNCIALS
In England there were two distinct schools of writing, one of which came from Ireland and the other brought over by the Roman missionaries. Very little is known of the writing brought over by the foreign missionaries, as only a small amount is known to be in existence. There is evidence, however, that some of the Roman rustic capitals were made use of.
The English half-uncials were modelled on the Irish half-uncials. The writing in the Durham Book, now in the British Museum, affords a good example of this kind of writing. It is interesting to compare this writing with that of the Book of Kells; there is a great similarity. Both are carefully written with the straight-cut pen. The English half-uncials also developed in the eighth and ninth centuries into a pointed hand. Capitals which were used for initials, etc., are simply variations of the majuscules.