Visigoth script

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The alphabet in Visigoth script (above); below the corresponding markup font (capital letters to highlight parts of the text and some word beginnings)

The Visigoth script (Latin scriptura visigotica ) is a minuscule that was created in the 7th century . It was used in the Visigoth Empire on the Iberian Peninsula and in the Visigoth areas of southern France ( Septimania ). Even after the Islamic expansion put an end to Visigoth rule in the early 8th century, the Visigoth script remained in use in Spain for centuries. Both the Mozarabs that under Muslim rule Christians, as well as the writer in the Christian kingdoms of the North - except in the Frankish coined Catalonia - clung to her.

history

The Visigoth script developed in two variants. One is called the "Spanish minuscule" or "Visigoth minuscule"; it served primarily as a book font. The other is an italic , non- calligraphic custom font. The "Spanish cursive" or "Visigoth cursive" is the much older of the two variants. It developed from the " younger Roman cursive ". Its beginnings go back to the 6th century, as documents on slates show, but its characteristic peculiarities did not develop until around the middle of the 7th century at the earliest.

During the Visigoth period, italics were used not only for business correspondence, but also for manuscripts. The book font hardly differed from the business font. A Spanish book minuscule as an independent script with calligraphic claims is only attested in manuscripts from the early 8th century. It emerged from the Visigoth cursive under the influence of the uncial and semi- uncial . Apparently, North African models also played an important role, as is evident from the striking similarities with manuscripts from the 9th and 10th centuries in St. Catherine's Monastery on Sinai . Presumably in the 7th century monks who fled from the Muslims invading North Africa brought books with them whose writing influenced the development of the Spanish book minuscule. The "Spanish minuscule" also penetrated the document system. While the italics dominated in Asturian documents, the Spanish minuscule was preferred in Castile , Navarre and Aragón . In the Muslim-dominated south of the Iberian Peninsula, the Christians ("Mozarabers") continued to cultivate their cultural tradition and clung to the Latin script and church language; the Visigoth script they use is called "Mozarabic script".

In the 11th century numerous French Cluniacians came to Spain; they played a key role in the liturgical reform , gained great power, and occupied most of the episcopal see. The French monks brought their books written in Carolingian minuscule with them and made sure that this Frankish script prevailed. In 1090 a council in León prescribed the Carolingian minuscule (littera Gallica) for the codices used in worship and forbade the Spanish script called littera Toletana (" Toledan script"). The reason given was the need for uniformity. The Carolingian minuscule also prevailed in the document system. Its influence can be seen from the middle of the 11th century, and in the second half of the century and in the early 12th century it pushed the Spanish script out of the royal chancellery. The latest evidence of the use of the Spanish minuscule comes from the 13th century.

An enlarged narrow capitalis was used as a markup font to highlight parts of the text, especially for headings, and to capitalize at the beginning of a sentence .

features

One of the main features of Visigothic script is its steepness, which often turns into a left-hand slant. The ascenders are extensive. Characteristic letters are the narrow g with a long descender taken from the uncial, the open at the top, similar to the u, which is formed from two equal arcs, and the t with the top line drawn down to the left. Another characteristic is the frequent abbreviation of per with a character that stands for pro in other fonts . Ligatures are common in the hard-to-read document font .

Examples

literature

  • Jesús Alturo: La escritura visigótica. Estado de la cuestión. In: Archiv für Diplomatik 50, 2004, pp. 347–386
  • Bernhard Bischoff : Palaeography of Roman antiquity and the western Middle Ages . 4th edition, Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-503-09884-2 , pp. 130-136, 317 f., 387 f.
  • Hans Foerster, Thomas Frenz: Outline of the Latin palaeography. 3rd, revised edition, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7772-0410-2 , pp. 134-141
  • Agustín Millares Carlo: Consideraciones sobre la escritura visigótica cursiva . Centro de Estudios e Investigación "San Isidoro", León 1973, ISBN 84-00-03869-X (contains numerous plates)

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Hans Foerster, Thomas Frenz: Abriss der Latinische Paläographie , 3rd, revised edition, Stuttgart 2004, p. 134 f.
  2. ↑ Hans Foerster, Thomas Frenz: Abriss der Latinische Paläographie , 3rd, revised edition, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 135-137; Bernhard Bischoff: Palaeography of Roman Antiquity and the Occidental Middle Ages , 4th edition, Berlin 2009, pp. 130-132.
  3. ^ Hans Foerster, Thomas Frenz: Abriss der Latinischen Paläographie , 3rd, revised edition, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 136 f., 140; Bernhard Bischoff: Palaeography of Roman Antiquity and the Occidental Middle Ages , 4th edition, Berlin 2009, pp. 130, 136.
  4. ↑ Bernhard Bischoff: Palaeography of Roman antiquity and the occidental Middle Ages , 4th edition, Berlin 2009, p. 134.
  5. ^ Hans Foerster, Thomas Frenz: Abriss der Latinische Paläographie , 3rd, revised edition, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 135, 140; Bernhard Bischoff: Palaeography of Roman Antiquity and the Occidental Middle Ages , 4th edition, Berlin 2009, p. 131.