{"id":790,"date":"2026-06-10T08:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=790"},"modified":"2026-06-10T08:08:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:08:47","slug":"june-4-2026-northumbrian-palaeography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/?p=790","title":{"rendered":"June 4, 2026: Northumbrian palaeography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Rannoch Daly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colm O\u2019Brien introduced the handwriting of 8th<\/sup> century Northumbrian documents.<\/p>\n

We examined the scripts of four documents written with two different scripts:<\/p>\n

Uncial<\/u><\/strong>;<\/u> the Codex Amiatinus (1) – above –  and the Evangelia Cantuariensia (2);<\/p>\n

Insular Majuscule;<\/u><\/strong> the Durham Gospels (3) – below –  and the Codex Lindisfarnensis (4).<\/p>\n

We focussed on how different scripts formed their letters in different ways.  <\/p>\n

The two images here are illustrative extracts with transcription, translation and a few notes.<\/p>\n

(1) The Codex Amiatinus was written in Jarrow and taken to Rome as a gift for Pope Gregory II in 716 AD. It is now in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence.<\/p>\n

(2) The Evangelia Cantuariensis (Gospel of St Augustine) is believed to have come from Italy with Augustine on his mission from Pope Gregory I in 597 AD. It is now in Corpus Christi College Cambridge (MD 286).<\/p>\n

(3) The Durham Gospels were written in Lindisfarne ca. 700 AD. It is now in Durham Cathedral (A.II.17). <\/p>\n

(4)The Codex Lindisfarnensis (Lindisfarne Gospels) was written in Lindisfarne ca. 715 AD. It is now in the British Museum (Cotton MS Nero D IV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Item 1, the Codex Amiatinus (f. 11r), (image above) is written in Uncial script. This extract is from Genesis I.1-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

Transcription:<\/span><\/u><\/b> <\/b>\u2018In principio creavit ds [deus] caelum et terram terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi et sps di ferebatur super aquas.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Translation: <\/span><\/u><\/b>\u2018In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/span><\/u><\/b><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

1 – the original has no punctuation.<\/span><\/p>\n

2 – \u2018ds\u2019 is a common Latin abbreviation for \u2018deus\u2019 [god]; as is \u2018sps di\u2019 for \u2018Spirit of God\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

3 – The word \u2018vacua\u2019: modern printed Latin uses the letters \u2018u\u2019 and \u2018v\u2019 but the original script gave both letters the same shape \u2018u\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

4 \u2013 Latin does not have the letter \u2018y\u2019. In the word \u2018abyssi\u2019 [the deep] the letter \u2018y\u2019 is borrowed from the Greek letter \u2018epsilon\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Item 2, the Durham Gospels (f. 2v), is Insular Majuscule script. This extract is from John I.6-8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transcription:<\/u><\/strong> \u2018 . . . cui nomen erat johannis hic venit in testimonium ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine ut omnes crederent per illum non erat ille lux sed ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation: <\/u><\/strong>\u2018 . . . whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that light.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/u><\/strong> At the end of the word \u2018perhiberet\u2019 the letters \u2018et\u2019 are run together to form a \u2018ligature\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Meeting: 18 June 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – More on early writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 – A discussion about the focus of our activities next year and onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All welcome \u2013 especially the inquisitive!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rannoch Daly Colm O\u2019Brien introduced the handwriting of 8th century Northumbrian documents. We examined the scripts of four documents written with two different scripts: Uncial; the Codex Amiatinus (1) – above –  and the Evangelia Cantuariensia (2); Insular Majuscule; the Durham Gospels (3) – below –  and the Codex Lindisfarnensis (4). We focussed on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bernicesblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":797,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions\/797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernicianstudies.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}