MS. Hatton 38

Hand(s)

Apart from some corrections, the manuscript is written in one hand, although the ink changes from black to brown and back again at several points. Some ink changes are probably due to the scribal corrections: for example, in fol. 152v/16-17, deleted letters are visible under the overwritten letters; the passages in different ink colour are in narrower and smaller letters in for example, fols 17v, 18r, 23r, 26v, and so on. Correction is 'in a good hand' (Ker 1957, p. 387). Liuzza suggests that Hatton 38 was copied by 'an astute scribe', who was 'capable of correcting his text in isolation' (1995, p. lxxiii). The main scribe also corrected the text he had copied too.

Fols 1r–167v: Angular script which retains insular letter forms. Some letters are given hairlines. The following description is based on Liuzza (1994, pp. xxxiii-vi). ‘a’ is Caroline. The height of ‘a’ and ‘e’ are the same in the combination ‘æ’. The initial ‘æ’ has an uncial 'a'. ‘d’ is insular. The same size and shape as ‘ð’. ‘e’ is Caroline. ‘f’ is insular. Both insular and Caroline ‘g’ used before fol. 128. After fol. 133, Caroline ‘g’ is used for the velar stop and the affricate and insular ‘g’ is used from the palatal continuant and fricative. The insular ‘g’ is in a shape of '3' with a flat top, and its loop finishes with a downward hairline to the left at the end of the loop, whereas the loop of the Caroline ‘g’ is almost closed, and it also has a hairline at the upper right corner of the bowl. ‘h’ is insular in Old English, but the Caroline form appears in proper names and in the sequence ‘ch’ for the palatal affricate. ‘p’ the straight descender. ‘r’ is insular in Old English, Caroline in Latin. Round ‘s’ commonly. Caroline ‘s’ and occasionally long ‘s’, where the descender finishes on the writing line with a serif. ‘ð’ is the same size and shaped as ‘d’. The crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect the upstroke. ‘ascenders’ are shorter than the height of the minim, and sometimes split at the top. ‘descenders’ turn to the left, except ‘p’. Descenders of the final lines of the page are sometimes very long and calligraphically emphasised. ‘accents’ are few, but the forms ‘ic’ and ‘ich’ are usually marked, as are some long monosyllables, the prefix ‘a-’ and an ‘i’ next to other minims. ‘þ(æt)’ with a crossbar, which slants from the upper right to the lower left. The head of ‘˥’ is curved and the downstroke is nearly vertical and sometimes turned up the right at the end. Its descender does not extend below the writing line. ‘st’ ligatures are often used. s. xii/xiii

Fols 13v and 70v, margins: these two additions are contemporary and probably one annotator. Extra rulings are given in the margin. Caroline ‘a’. ‘e’ often has a hairline elongated tongue. Insular ‘g’ is '5'-shaped. ‘ð’ is the same size and shaped as ‘d’. The crossbar extends only to the right of the ascender, and has a very distinct downward serif at the right end. ‘˥’ has a very wavy head.xii/xiii

Fol. 119r: Liuzza (1994) identifies that a later hand has supplied an omission to Mathew 25:34 (p. xxxiv). Contemporary with the main hand. ‘a’ is Caroline. ‘e’ is Caroline, and its head is small. Insular ‘g’ is in a shape of '5'. ‘h’ is insular. High ‘s’, of which descender finishes on the writing line with a serif. ‘ð’: its crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect to the left of the upstroke. ‘ascenders’ are shorter than the height of the minim, and wedged. ‘descenders’ turn to the left. s. xii/xiii