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

profusely employed.
PALEOGRAPHY
In the thirteenth century the Trench hand used in Spain
underwent considerahle changes. The resultant modified
hand has "been improperly called the Gothic hand.l'^ This
type of hand acquired long curves in place of perpendicular
strokes a"bove and "below the "base line, and much unnecessary
ornamentation. Another type also derived from the
Caroline miniscule is generally known as the Gothic minis-
cule . In Spain, however, these two types were known as the
(l) Privilegios , or gremts; and the (2) alhalaes, or patents.
The chief characteristic of these two types is that they
made little use of ahhreviations. These types were used
mainly in Castile, "but since the Castilian language was made
the official language for documents "by Alfonso X, they
subsequently received wide acceptance. '^ The privilegios
hand is different from the French hand only in that it is
somewhat more angular at the extremities of its staffs in
relation to the "base line, in that its perpendicular and
slanting strokes terminate in curves, and in that it is
loaded with useless ornamentation. The alhalaes hand is no
different from the privilegios hand in regard to the shape
of the letters, "but it is different in regard to proportion,
slant, and connection. Both types make use of fewer
abbreviations than does the French hand.
The handwriting types used in the thirteenth century
continued in use throughout the fourteenth century. The
only change in their form was the ro-undness acquired during
this century especially in documents written after 1350.
There was an increased substitution of curves for angles.
The so-called privilegios hand developed into the redonda ,
or round, of the fifteenth century; while the albalaes developed
into the cortesana. or courthand. The cortesana
was crowded, entangled, and its characters were bound with
knotty connections.
In the fifteenth century there were five kinds of handwriting
in use throughout Spain: (l) itdlica, or bastardilla,
italics; (2) redonda . or round; (3) alemana, or German; (4)
cortesana . or courthand; and (5) procesal , or processal.
The itdlica is similar to modern italics. The redonda had
a uniformly heavy line; it was broad in design; and little
use was made of abbreviations. The only difficulty in reading
it is that words are not uniformly separated. The ale-
J. MuSoz y Rivero, I'bid. , p. 31.
^^ Ibid. , pp. 31-32.
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