these two are not spectacular. however, they illustrate a good point. if you learn the basic shapes of a style like uncial, you can have fun trying those shapes with a variety of tools. the top one is pointed brush marker and the bottom one is a broad edge marker. uncial is also a good beginner style because you only have to learn one letter, no caps way back then. have we talked about who invented caps? anybody out there who does not know and wants to know? there will be a prize for the person who posts the answer first after someone asks for more info. clearly, i am fishing for comments. :-)
and yes, i know, the r in the top one is not an uncial r. you really can make up your own styles if you want to.
I believe it was invented by Thelonius Uncial, scribe to King Alfred the Great who ruled England in the 9th century. Alfred was a very fast talker and had a lot to say about his battles to defend England from those pesky Vikings, so Uncial invented this as a way to write quickly.
ReplyDeleteBut you asked who invented caps, not who invented uncial. Caps, also known as majescules were invented by the scribe to Alfred's grandson, King Adelbert, who had a terrible stutter (King Adelbert, that is, not the scribe). He wanted to relay Thelonius Uncial's stories about grandpa Albert to his own children, Prince Aelfrich and Princess Hildegaard, but couldnt easily see when one sentence ended and the next one began. This aggravated his stutter terribly. Consequently, he asked his scribe Daffyd of Dorsetshire, to rewrite the stories in a way that clearly highlighted the break in sentences. Hence the capital letter was invented.
ReplyDeleteclearly Carrie has been doing her homework!!!! she wins the prize. i'll post it soon....
ReplyDeleteBut really, what's the real answer?
ReplyDeleteactually, we had caps first and then minuscules were the invention.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Charlemagne was never fully literate, he clearly understood the value of literacy and a uniform script in running his empire. Charlemagne sent for the English scholar Alcuin of York to run his palace school and scriptorium at his capital, Aachen. The revolutionary character of the Carolingian reform cannot be over-emphasized; efforts at taming the crabbed Merovingian and Germanic hands had been under way before Alcuin arrived at Aachen, where he was master from 782 to 796, with a two-year break. The new minuscule was disseminated first from Aachen, of which the Ada Gospels provide classic models, and later from the influential scriptorium at Marmoutier Abbey (Tours), where Alcuin withdrew from court service as an abbot in 796 and restructured the scriptorium.[1]
from wikipedia
i always give credit to alcuin of york
but, i don't know that he deserves it.
you still get a prize...
as soon as i get my two rush jobs done...
OK I was pretty close.
ReplyDeleteYes you were. I thought you must have known the answer to come up with such a clever story.
ReplyDelete