A Palaeographical Reconsideration of the ‘Hand D’ Corpus

Abstract

This article explores those manuscripts with glosses and additions attributed to 'Hand D', a key figure in the history of English Caroline minuscule and often ascribed to St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. It provides a thorough examination of those additions, corrections, and glosses attributed to Hand D to establish a revised corpus of manuscripts containing Hand D's writing, before providing a comprehensive assessment of the development of this scribe's activity. The evidence presented suggests that the 'Hand D' corpus comprises a single scribe previously trained in the Insular scribal tradition who incorporates Caroline minuscule letterforms over a period of time. This palaeographical assessment yields significant implications for the development of English Caroline minuscule in mid-tenth century England, which raises intriguing questions about the true identity of this intriguing scribe.