Handbook for translators of Spanish historical ... - University Library

PALEOGRAPHY
sloping uncial, "but the letters b and i are cursive forms;
the lengthening of vertical strokes indicates the influence
of the cursive hand. 9 Cursive writing was the ordinarywriting
of the people for the first three centuries of the
Christian era. The letters are nothing more than the old
Roman letters written with speed, and thus undergoing certain
modifications in form, which eventually developed into
the Roman miniscule hand. 10
After the period of Roman domination, Spain fell to the
Visigoths, who "brought their handwriting with them. Their
own hand, however, had "been greatly modified "by their prolonged
contact with Roman culture in the Gauls. When they
conquered Spain, they adopted the native form of handwriting,
which was the Roman cursive, and modified it into the
Visigothic hand which "became the national form of writing
in Spain, and was well esta"blished "by the eighth century.
The Visigothic hand was divided into three classes: (l)
the majuscule, which was in turn divided into two kinds;
(a) capital, and ("b) \incial; (2) the miniscule; and (3)
the cursive. Visigothic capitals were similar to the old
Roman square capitals. The chief difference "between them
is the close grouping and elongation of letters in the
Visigothic. Visigothic uncials are similar to Roman uncials,
the greatest difference "being the more slender strokes of
the Visigothic. Visigothic miniscules resem"ble our modern
italics, with the difference of the perpendicular strokes
of the miniscule. Visigothic cursive closely resem'bles
the Roman cursive of the seventh century, which it imitates
in the long perpendicular strokes of most consonants, and
the clearly outlined vowels.
The majuscule type of handwriting was used from the
eighth to the twelfth centuries for epigraphs. The miniscule
was in use during the same period for the text of codices
and documents; and the cursive hand was employed mainly
for documents. It should "be noted that in Asturias
and Leon the use of miniscule for codices predominates,
while the cursive hand was employed in writing documents.
In Aragon and Navarre cursive handwriting was extremely rare,
and the miniscule was commonly used for books and legal documents.
11
VThen the Romans su'bjected the Gauls to their domination,
Elements Le Chanoine Reusens ,
E. M. Thompson, I"bid. , p. 197.
l^E. M. Thompson, Ibid. . p. 204.
Jesus Munoz y Eivero , Ibid. , p. 23.
de Paleograhie, p. 13;