Minims can turn a short historical word into one of the hardest parts of a manuscript line. A number of characters are formed by similar vertical lines in different scribal styles. These characters include i, m, n, and u. Without…
Sometimes, a word seems to include an f in a place where the rest of the letters indicate that there should be an s. It’s possible to see such an f in a word, yet know that it should actually…
The reason why a document-specific alphabet is more helpful than a generic paleography chart: Take a single clear line of text and choose a word that you feel confident about identifying (e.g., a repeated name, date, title, or common phrase).…
Your eye might go to the first line, trying to interpret every mark as a word you already know. But there is another way. Before you start transcribing, look at the entire page. Is the writing tight or loose? Are…