CARLOVINGIAN WRITING
The great revival of learning during the reign of Charlemagne resulted in the development of a new school of writing known as Caroline, or Carlovingian. Towards the end of the eighth century the decree calling for the revision of the Church books naturally became the cause of fresh activity in the writing schools connected with the monasteries. At Tours the book-hand was developed which is known as the Caroline Minuscule. An example is given of this hand. This form of writing spread rapidly all over the Frankish empire and gradually influenced the book-hands employed in the neighbouring countries. The use of the slanted-cut pen is an important thing in connection with the formation of these minuscules.
LATER STYLES
The tenth century example given is from the Benedictional of Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester from A.D. 963–984. This lettering is of the foreign type, but it has a strongly defined native character all its own, some of the letters being distinctly Saxon in type.
From the twelfth century onwards a great number of MSS. were produced, each country having its own particular style and developing on certain definite lines. It is impossible to give specimens of all the different kinds of Calligraphy. The examples shown must be taken as roughly indicating the general style of the writing. The use of the slanted-cut pen tended towards the compression of the letters, thus forming a strong contrast to the letters produced in the earlier periods with the straight-cut pen.
In the thirteenth century writing became considerably smaller. In the latter part of this century a very large number of Bibles appear to have been written, and volumes were smaller, standing out in strong contrast to the ponderous tomes of the preceding century. In the fourteenth century the writing became considerably stiffer and more angular. This tendency showed itself still more strongly in the fifteenth century.
In Italy this tendency did not make itself felt quite as early as in the writings of Northern Europe. Although later on they became more or less affected in this way, there is a decided difference between Italian writing and the styles employed by the other countries.
In the fifteenth century the Italian scribes appear to have gone back to their early periods for models for book-hands, and it is this that influenced the early printers of Italy to use type of this character, which has its modern representative in the Roman type of to-day.