Carolingian minuscule

writing

Also known as: Caroline minuscule

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History

Carolingian minuscule, in calligraphy, clear and manageable script that was established by the educational reforms of Charlemagne in the latter part of the 8th and early 9th centuries. As rediscovered and refined in the Italian Renaissance by the humanists, the script survives as the basis of the present-day Roman upper- and lowercase type.

A learned English cleric, Alcuin of York, was invited in 781 by Charlemagne to become master of the palace school at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). He returned to England in 786 and again in 790, but he eventually retired as abbot of St. Martin’s at Tours, where he built up a monastic school and gathered many books. He is credited with Roman Catholic liturgical reforms and with the promotion of Carolingian minuscule as the official court hand.

The crowning achievement of the Tours school of scholars, Carolingian minuscule scribes, and artists was attained in the mid-9th century in the Gospels of Lothair, produced by Alcuin’s successors.

The word Calligraphy is written in elegant blue script with decorative flourishes and a leafy design inside the capital C.

Carolingian minuscule

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