A Conspectus of Scribal Hands Writing English, 700-1100

By (author) Professor Donald Scragg

Ebook (VitalSource) - £19.99

Publication date:

25 August 2021

Length of book:

126 pages

Publisher

D.S.Brewer

Dimensions:

210x290mm

ISBN-13: 9781800103948

Comprehensive, annotated list of over a thousand Anglo-Saxon scribal hands, linking them to place and manuscript.

This book documents the entire corpus of scribal hands writing in the vernacular from the eighth century to post-Conquest. More than a thousand hands are listed, together with details of their work, which ranges from a few words or sentences in marginalia to multiple volumes; glosses and marginalia are included, together with Latin charters containing some English. Overall, it offers a comprehensive view of the scale of literacy in early medieval England, locating the familiar material produced in Alfred's day in a significantly wider context, and providing an invaluable starting point for a variety of manuscript studies.
Donald Scragg's A Conspectus of Scribal Hands Writing English, 700-1100 provides a welcome update to his earlier volume of the same title spanning the years 960-1100.