A class for FOOL 2024
Prepared and delivered by Asleif of Ramshaven
Uncial script in the British Isles comes in two varieties ‘Irish half-uncial’ and ‘English (Anglo-Saxon) uncial’. These terms are outdated and based on biased and incomplete understanding from the 17th century, however these are the terms we still use today. Both come from the Roman rustic capitals (again, weirdly biased, as it was used for the high literary form in manuscripts), and the informal cursive which was used for everything from merchant account books and children’s school books up to decrees by the Emperor. The old cursive form fell out of use by the 3rd century as it was basically a Latin shorthand script with single letters signifying entire words, but the ‘new cursive’, which included larger initial letters remained in use until the 7th. ‘Rustic capitals’ continued on until the 9th, with the heyday between the 4th and 6th century. Both of these merged in the 7th century to become the precursors of the Visigothic, Merovingian and Uncial scripts. So, as the Roman Empire slowly came apart the Classical age melded into the Middle Ages. The scripts changed as a reflection of this.
