Script, or the "handwriting used in manuscripts", was determined by the "form and function" of the manuscript. (Brown, 1994, p.115). Scribes were able to choose from many different handwriting styles when composing a manuscript. However, within these guidelines the individual handwriting characteristics of each scribe were also present in a text.
The script style of the only remaining manuscript from the Nostell Priory remains a point of debate. Personal conversation with independent scholar and Getty Institute manuscript researcher, Peter Kidd, revealed his belief that the script style used in this manuscript was actually an informal style of handwriting he calls "semi-formal Gothic book-hand" (2013) or a type of script used in the Gothic period exclusively for books. Kidd suggests the style is somewhere between a "neat formal style and a more informal cursive style" (2013).
The script style of the only remaining manuscript from the Nostell Priory remains a point of debate. Personal conversation with independent scholar and Getty Institute manuscript researcher, Peter Kidd, revealed his belief that the script style used in this manuscript was actually an informal style of handwriting he calls "semi-formal Gothic book-hand" (2013) or a type of script used in the Gothic period exclusively for books. Kidd suggests the style is somewhere between a "neat formal style and a more informal cursive style" (2013).
Research done using Avrin's (1991) and Nottingham University's work (2013) suggests that the script style is a more formal cursive style, Anglicana Formata. Around 1260, cursive scripts, like the Anglicana cursive scripts, were becoming a more efficient method of copying literary texts and liturgical works. Notable of scripts in the Anglicana style are "how many letters extend above [and] below the writing line" (University of Nottingham, 2013). In the 13th century, this type of script was also characterized by flourishes, hooks, and dots. The Nostell Priory manuscript contains the characteristic flourishes and hooks as well as the extending letters of Anglicana Formata.
Below is an example of Anglicana Formata script (see Figure 17) and an image of the manuscript's actual script style (see Figure 18) for comparison.
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| Figure 17. Anglicana Formata script style sample |
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| Figure 18. Close up of Nostell Priory manuscript text |
Sufficient visual and historical evidence exists to suggest that the Nostell Priory's manuscript script style is Anglicana Formata. Given this information, Peter Kidd's assessment that the manuscript's script style is somewhere between an informal and formal cursive style is not entirely off point: of the more informal Anglicana cursive scripts, "Formata is the most formal" (University of Nottingham, 2013).
