Of course, in
so long a period changes were many and great. So great, indeed, that
between a MS. of 850 and another of 1200 scarcely is there a common
feature.
From 850 to 1000 in France the Carolingian minuscule, from the first so
clear and beautiful, remained with scarce a stroke of alteration. But
immediately after the opening of the eleventh century a series of rapid
changes set in, and by the beginning of the twelfth a new hand,
perfectly clear and regular, but quite different from the Carolingian,
had been formed, which lasted until it was superseded by the Gothic,
while a system of contractions adopted because of the scarcity of
parchment creates a fresh need for study apart from the peculiarities of
personal habits. Side by side, too, with this there grows up a
non-professional hand--the so-called cursive or running hand of the
ordinary writer--in many cases, especially in deeds and other brief
compositions, all but utterly illegible, except to the professional
pal?ographer. Occasionally these autographs are of the highest
importance and intensely interesting, as, for instance, when in an
English MS. we come Across a note in the handwriting of Ordericus
(Vitalis) or Matthew Paris.
From 900 to 1200 the vast majority of MSS.
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