Gothic Bastard Hand*

Was There Much Different Handwriting in the Middle Ages?

Oh, yes! It was also a period of the introduction of new styles of handwriting. Some of them are echoed today in the considerable variety of computer fonts that are available. Here is a list of the known medieval handwriting styles:

Roman Square Hand, or Quadrata

Roman Rustica

Roman Versals

Uncial

Lombardic Versals

Roman Half-Uncial

Artificial Uncial

Insular Majuscule, or Irish Uncial

Insular Miniscule

Luxeuil Minuscule

Merovingian Charter Hand

Carolingian Minuscule

Ottonian

English Caroline

Early Gothic

Gothic Textus Quadratus

Gothic Textus Precissus

Round Gothic, or Rotunda

Gothic semicursive, or Bastard

Bastard Secretary

Bâtarde

Fraktur

Schwabacher

Cadels