The Problem of Grade in English Vernacular Minuscule, c. 1060 to 1220

It is often asserted that writing in English had lower status than Latin during the twelfth century. However, palaeographers have generally established the characteristics of lower-grade script by looking at Caroline minuscule used for Latin, and this has lead to vernacular script seeming lower-grade than it probably was. This article seeks to establish new criteria for formality in vernacular script by studying cartularies with charters in Latin but boundary-clauses in English. Differences in scribal practice when writing each language are analysed, and the relationship between the (Latin) bodies and (vernacular) bounds are addressed, particularly in a twelfth-century cartulary from Evesham in which many of the Latin portions of the texts were erased, leaving just the English.