Two day course: 9-10 June 2025
Before the adoption of Caroline minuscule that standardised writing practices in the early medieval West, there was a wide variety of regional scripts that were used in manuscript and documentary production. The Frankish territory (the area that corresponds to modern France, Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy) was the birthplace of several different graphic forms which, for their peculiar aspect and specific letter forms, have been categorised as discrete scripts.
In this two-day course, we will explore the fascinating writing culture of the Merovingian and early Carolingian periods, c. 500-800 CE. We will analyse, read, and transcribe some of the most relevant script types found in books, charters and informal documents from the period, and reflect on the challenges of script classification in such a rich and complex historical context. By the end of the course, you will have a solid grasp of its writing culture as well as of the many specialised letter-forms, abbreviations, and ligatures that were used in this milieu.
