Gothic ScriptsDescriptions of scripts are from Michelle Brown's A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 London, The British Library: 1990 The Gothic system of scripts is a complex hierarchy of formal and cursive scripts developed from s. xiiex-s. xvi (and later in conservative areas). Its principal initial characteristics are the formation of distinct categories of script suited for use in a well preserved hierarchy of books and texts, from de luxe liturgical volumes to university textbooks, and the rediscovery of cursive scripts proper (as opposed to the dual purpose Caroline and Protogothic), initially (from s. xiiex in England which was the first area to reinvent cursive) for documentary use, but also for book use from s. xiiiex. These scripts were used in a secular production context (in which clerics often participated) and the monastic scriptorium alike. From s. siiex teh tendency towards lateral compression noted in Protogothic textualis became more extreme and was accompanied by a squarer, more compact aspect and increasing elaboration in the treatment of minims. The latter feature was the determinant in a descending hierarchy of four grades of textualis: prescissa; quadrata; semi-quadrata; rotunda. These grade were well understood and widespread and only very detailed analysis, much of which has still to be undertaken, may assist in the identification of scribal and local characteristics. Variants of textualis, sometimes employing limited cursive features, used for glosses (littera gothica glossularis) and notes (littera gothica notularis) are primarily distinguished by their scale and function, with notularis practically confined to s. xiii, after which it was replaced by cursive.
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