The School of Advanced Study are pleased to announce the release of InScribe Module 2: Script. This is the second instalment from the online platform InScribe: Palaeography Learning Materials and follows the introductory module released in January 2013.


Studying scripts

The study of pre-modern scripts involves being able to identify specific letters, understand what is written down in a hand that is not necessarily familiar to us today, and being able to recognise the indicators that tell us the origin and date of production. The study of scripts in this way (Palaeography) is a useful skill to process especially for students who study any aspect of the pre-modern world.

Knowledge of the basic principles of Palaeography and the main features of particular script formats is an unavoidable requirement for anyone with an interest in the Middle Ages and a need to refer to primary sources. InScribe has been developed with that in mind. It is not a resource for expert Palaeographers, rather it is aimed at students that are required to consult primary sources (either medieval manuscripts or documents) and offers them with a chance to acquire the required knowledge and skills. Users are presented with a variety of textual and audiovisual resources that cover the whole medieval period with a focus on the English context. Besides detailed descriptions of each script, the student is given the opportunity to put that in practice by transcribing a range of selected manuscripts in the newly-developed transcription tool.

InScribe Module 2: Script

After the success of the introductory (free) module on General Palaeography, the School of Advanced Study have

Example page from the course

Example page from the course

produced a new, second online module for our successful InScribe palaeography course. This module focuses on scripts, providing an opportunity to determine the origin and date of production of any given manuscript from medieval Britain. It starts with Insular Minuscule (a script form popular in sixth-century Britain) and ends with Gothic types in the 16th century. The module’s contents include:

Section 1         Introduction

Section 2         Insular Minuscule

Section 3         Anglo-Saxon & Caroline minuscule

Section 4         The Protogothic Transition

Section 5         The Gothic Explosion

As with the previous module, the Scripts module contains advice, videos showing Palaeographers as work, and various opportunities to practise your transcription and identification skills using digital copies of manuscript pages.

This module costs £25 to complete. Further details can be found on the School of Advanced Study shop. The first free module can be found here: InScribe module one, just click on ‘guest’ access to go straight to the course.