15.1 The characteristics of caroline
It is a minuscule script, with balanced, rounded forms; it has a regular and elegant appearance, simple to make and also easily legible, with a clear separation between letters and words, with very few ligatures and abbreviations. The strokes of the letters does not bear contrast between thin lines and thick lines, the form is uniform and balanced. A slight slanting towards the right may be observed and sometimes, at the beginning, a slight thickening of the upper parts of the shafts: “clubbed” ascenders.
Characteristics that may be observed:
- a: the Uncial form prevails; in the first few decades, it continues also beside the cursive form in the shape of two consecutive c’s (cc) or oc;
- c: it is never crested;
- e: it has a semi-Uncial shape, round and with a small closed bow;
- g: it has a closed bow with a cross-stroke in the upper right and a lower curvilinear stroke which extends and tends to close into the bow;
- i: always short;
- n: it can be in a lowercase form or (early on) also capitalized;
- r: remains low to the baseline, rarely linked to the next letter or previous;
- s: the upper stroke rises above;
- t : always low, with the lower stoke straight across or in the “sickle” shape (with a curved shaft);
- z: remains small, with no upper or lower shaft or curling flourishes.
It should also be noted that ligatures between letters are almost non-existent at the beginning, except in the case of ct and st, and the link for et. The increased attention that is paid to the orthographic and grammatical aspects makes the use of the e caudata (e with cedilla: ȩ) to indicate the diphthong ae or oe.
It should also be noted that ligatures between letters are almost non-existent at the beginning, except in the case of ct and st, and the link for et. The increased attention that is paid to the orthographic and grammatical aspects makes the use of the e caudata (e with cedilla: ȩ) to indicate the diphthong ae or oe.
Some important examples of Caroline include Reg. lat. 762, (Vatican Livy, produced at St. Martino of Tours in the 8th/9th century); the Vat. lat. 3868 (Vatican Terence, copied approximately in the year 825 in Aachen); the Urb. lat. 3 (Gospels of Lothair I, 9th century, ca. 840, perhaps in Aachen, under influences from Tours); the Vat. lat. 43 (Gospels, 9th century, St. Martin of Tours); Urb. lat. 1146 (Apicius, 9th century, St. Martin of Tours); Vat lat. 5775 (Claudius of Turin, completed in 862 at Tortona); the Pal. lat. 899 (Historia augusta, 9th century, perhaps produced in Bobbio, which also contains some autograph notes by Petrarch) and the Patetta. 1621 (Chartularium ecclesiae Salernitanae, 12th century, a manuscript in Caroline in the South of Italy).
