Beneventan ScriptDescriptions of scripts are from Michelle Brown's A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 London, The British Library: 1990 Beneventan minuscule (littera minuscula beneventana), a script which was developed in southern Italy from the mid-eighth-century and which takes its name from the former Duchy of benevento. This example is of a type used at the Beneventan Abbey of Monte Cassino which was instrumental in developing this script, which is one of the most distinctive and long-lived of the post-Roman hands. It survived the introduction of caroline minuscule (from c. 800) and continued in use in southern Italy, although not exclusively, until c. 1300, with some provincial survivals into the fifteenth century. It is often considered to have reached its zenith in the eleventh century. Although the script was based primarily upon New Roman Cursive its use of certain Half-Uncial letter-forms, notably the 'oc' form of a and round d, and the characteristically Italian breadth and rotundity of aspect lent it a greater formality and regularity than many other pre-Caroline scripts. Other noteworthy features include the following: theta-shaped e; high shoulderedr; the descending head-stroke, resembling a bow, to t; the use of ligatures, such as et, fi, ri, ti and st.
Resurrexit et adhuc tecum sum alleluia |
