USC Digital Voltaire

Paleography: A Brief Introduction

Sasha Pearce, December 2016


A Brief Introduction

Paleography is the study of ancient handwriting, a discipline in which deciphering difficult graphs (letters or punctuation marks) is the foundational requirement. The job of a paleographer is not primarily to read historical documents for their content, but to analyze the document as an object. This means that a paleographer must determine not only what has been written, but also what the handwriting, ink, and paper reveal about the time and place from which the document originated.

The discipline of paleography does not have strict definitions, but paleographers do work with the same basic set of skills and perform the common tasks of transcribing, dating, and locating the origin of documents. A paleographer must be knowledgeable about the language in which the document was written and look for the style of handwriting to help determine the date, noticing abbreviations, decorative marks, along with ink color and paper quality. The terminology and descriptions used in paleographical analyses can vary with each paleographer, so paleographers usually include a set of conventions that they have chosen to use for each specific document at the beginning of their analysis.

There is an extremely limited number of jobs available for paleographers. But, when paleographical analyses are needed, they are decidedly important. Information from paleographers can be used to verify the historical significance and value of objects such as the Last Letter of Mary Queen of Scots, written six hours before her execution. The work of paleographers can be vital to historians, national archives, libraries, auction houses, museums, and often intersects with the skills of researchers in fields such as medieval and early modern history, the classics and comparative literature.

Paper

The paper used by governing offices in the Roman empire was papyrus, which was made in Egypt and exported into Europe for hundreds of years. Papyrus was relied upon from 3500 BC. to the 10th century, but nearly all of the papyrus stored in Europe has completely disintegrated due to the moist climate, while papyri stored in dry climates such as Egypt still exists in large numbers.[5] For important documents, such as official documents or church records, papyrus was replaced by parchment, also called vellum, which was made of animal skin. Parchments are sturdy and thick enough that they were often reused. They could be washed or scraped and when this has been done, the parchment is known as palimpsest.  Paleographers usually use the word vellum to refer to calf skin and parchment to refer to sheepskin, though this is an unofficial rule. There are rare occasions when human skin was used, and often when a document claims to be made of human skin, it is not.

By the 14th century, rag paper was in use in Europe.[6] From roughly 1300 to 1800, paper in Europe was made following the same basic technique, producing thick, sturdy paper that is mostly acid-free, thus has lasted well over time. This paper has proved to be much stronger than later forms, especially papers developed in the 20th century, which are quickly disintegrated due to their high acidity content. The production of rag paper, however, took months and consisted of these main steps:Rag paper was thick and absorbent, made from the cotton of used cloths and from flax fibers, hemp fibers, and linen fibers. The fibers from these sources are naturally dark, and since bleaches were not yet available, techniques such as field bleaching had to be used to brighten and whiten the paper. The combination of salts, lye, and sun, along with a process of repeatedly drying and saturating the material with water was used to fade the naturally dark plant fibers.[7]

This process including the field bleaching, required from six to eight months to complete. At Haarlem this industry continued large and lucrative until the end of the eighteenth-century, when the modern system of bleaching by the agency of chlorine practically stifled it.[8]


These handmade papers have individual characteristics that change depending on where and by whom they were produced, characteristics that paleographers today use to identify the papers’ origins. During the process of forming the paper sheets, the fibers were flattened onto a mould and deckle (a type of sieve). The wires that made up the deckle left their imprint, called chain-lines, on the finished paper that can be seen when held against a light. These chain-lines, together with any watermarks (similar to a logo) used by the paper company, are two of the most prominent characteristics that paleographers look for when dating and locating the origin of documents.

Hands

Handwriting can be the most recognizable aspect of a document, offering paleographers a quick sign with which to begin dating the artifact. Handwriting in early modern Europe transformed with time, from book hands,[9] to court hands,[10] secretary hand,[11] italic,[12] mixed,[13] and finally to the round hands,[14] which can be recognized in some form even modern handwriting.

A brief glance at this document would tell a paleographer that it must have been written after 1600 because of the use of commas in the punctuation. In fact, this example comes from John Milton, who was born in 1608. It is a copy of his famed “Lycidas,” in his own hand. The following is an example of paleographic analysis taken from experts at Cambridge for this document:

A compact (even squashed) and thick-nibbed italic scrawl, often faintly rightward leaning. Internal evidence gives a terminus a quo of 1637, while scholarship on Milton's autograph (precisely dating his abandonment of the Greek e, here used consistently) gives a terminus ad quem of 1639 (see J. H. Hanford, PMLA, 36 (1921), 251ff., and idem, PMLA, 38 (1923), 290ff.). The rate at which the ink fades (generally over the course of about a line) suggests that this manuscript was copied out at some speed and emended/revised later, at which time the heading was probably added around the original title; in this connection, it is interesting to note that the Italian eyed e appears in the heading, and at the beginning of the marginal revisions in each case, suggesting that perhaps these revisions were undertaken during the period of Milton's transition from one form to another. Ascenders and descenders are universally short, often severely so, and the bodies of almost all letters squashed and condensed; the single (and signal) exception is the ubiquitous Greek e. The hand is most distinctive for its generally cramped and heavily-inked appearance, but some individual letter forms may be noted: a severely left-hooking ascender on d, which occasionally reaches horizontally back across the line; a limp k, often impersonating h(see for example 'knew', l. 12); and a distinctly unlovely st ligature (e.g. 'destin'd', l. 22). Abbreviations include ye, wth, -or (as in 'yor'), the occasional p-abbreviation, and various contractions by apostrophe. Punctuation comprises the comma, semi-colon, period, question mark (reversed), frequent apostrophes, diaeresis ('Drüids'), and cross and asterisk as marks of insertion.[15]


Brief History of the Discipline[16]

Until the 19th century, the discipline of paleography was called “diplomatics.” The Humanists of the 15th century were the first group to formally begin organizing and dating handwriting. In 1681, the first textbook was published on diplomatics, De Re Diplomatica, by the French Benedictine monk Jean Mabillon. In his book, Mabillon relied on contemporary paleographic methodology to assess the authenticity of documents and to

argue for the validity of certain ancient grants to the Benedictine Order. Mabillon's principles for assessing the authenticity of documents gave rise to the formal discipline of paleography… Subsequent landmarks in the discipline include the Nouveau traité de diplomatique (1750-65) by the Benedictines René-Prosper Tassin and Charles-François Toustain, Charles-François-Bernard de Montfaucon's Palaeographia graeca (1708), and the work of Francesco Scipione Maffei of Verona (1675-1755). The twentieth century has witnessed the development of several major schools of paleography, defined by the approaches of key scholars, such as Ludwig Traube and E. A. Lowe.[17]


More Information

Below is a list of informative websites on the discipline and history of paleography. Cambridge University offers a free online set of lessons with which to get started that can be accessed at Cambridge English Handwriting Course Online. The most comprehensive text written in English for paleography is An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography  by E. Maunde Thompson. For a guide to modern French paleography, see Manuel de Paléographie Moderne, XVIe-XVIIIe Siècles by Béatrice Beaucourt-Vicidomini, which we have used as our guide for the transcriptions of USC’s Voltaire Letters Project. Britannica Academic Online notes that:

Early English writing is addressed in Alexander R. Rumble, Writing and Texts in Anglo-Saxon England (2006).A standard textbook for medieval English cursive hands is Charles Johnson and Hilary Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066 to 1500 (1915, reprinted 1967), continued in Jenkinson's Later Court Hands in England from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century (1927). L.C. Hector, The Handwriting of English Documents, 2nd ed. (1966, reissued 1980), contains a valuable introduction to the paleography of English administrative manuscripts.


To learn more, check out the sites listed below. Beginning a formal education on paleography can be difficult because classes are rare, however, they will usually be nested within the history departments of universities. At USC, for example, past classes have been led by Professor Deborah Harkness, including a class in 2015 comparing and contrasting the reigns of Elizbeth I and Henry VIII by exploring images of primary historical documents:


Because historians have written so much about these two monarchs, we will be particularly attentive to primary sources (social, political, economic, intellectual) written by Henry, Elizabeth, and their contemporaries—not editions, not printed books, but manuscripts. To do so, we will be studying paleography (the science of handwriting) and using USC’s superb collection of online manuscript resources. This will put you in direct contact with some of the best-known figures of the age—not only Henry and Elizabeth, but Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, foreign rulers like Francis I and Philip II, Thomas More, William Cecil. You will also gain perspective on the period from the writings of wool merchants, wives, widows, secretaries, ambassadors, students, and priests.[19]


For more on classes such as the above, contact the undergraduate advisor in university departments such as History, Comparative Literature, and Classics to find out if any professors are available to teach the subject. 

1. Britannica Academic offers a concise and comprehensive overview of the discipline and history of paleography, including information about2. University of Iowa [21]  offers an essay by Timothy Barret that “describes the materials and techniques used to make paper by hand in Europe between 1300 and 1800 CE.” Information includes:3. University of London offers comprehensive information about their African manuscripts, which belong to an ancient calligraphic tradition which goes back to the Ifrīqī style – an offshoot of the heavy and angular Maghribī script which evolved from the Kufic script. The Ifrīqī writing tradition was dominant in the Maghrib until the 14th century AD and was subsequently superseded by the more cursive Andalusian style. This tradition has been preserved in northern Nigeria and southern Niger and is known in the literature as the “Borno Court Hand” (Bivar 1960), or the “Borno Ifrīqī hand.” 

In this site, you can find additional information about:4. Cambridge English Handwriting 1500-1700  offers an online course in early modern, English paleography for free. These lessons give you original images of early modern documents with accompanying dating and description for the experts at Cambridge. In addition, this site offers explanations of difficult hands and graphs as well as transcriptions with which students can verify their own progress.
 
[5] Britannica Academic Online, "paleography." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
[6] "Paleography." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
[7] John Horner, Linen Trade of Europe (Belfast: Linenhall Press, 1920), 368–71.
[8] Ibid.
[9] The hands found in books produced by scriptoria prior to the spread of printing; such hands are more accommodating of attempts at codification
[10] General business/literary hands, including stylised hands in particular offices/professions which survive alongside Secretary (e.g. chancery hand, exchequer hand, etc.)
[11] An offshoot of the court hands of the beginning of the C16 (early-, mid-, late-Tudor, Jacobean)
[12] Created in Italy c. 1400 and popular with English Humanists from the early C16 on; only once the hand becomes widespread does it start to infect secretary and produce mixed hands
[13] Also called  hybrid/transitional hands, the next stage of the Italic conquest, leading to round hands
[14] Mid-late 17th century Italic
[15] https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/lessons/lesson24/index.html https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/lessons/lesson24/index.html
[16] This information came from: British Library, “catalogue of illumined manuscripts,” https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossP.asp and from Britannica Academic http://original.search.eb.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/eb/article-9108629
[17] This information came from the British Library “Catalogue of illumined manuscripts” https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossP.asp and from Britannica Academic http://original.search.eb.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/eb/article-9108629
[19] Description taken from the syllabus of Hist 498 in fall 2015, a course at USC taught by Professor Deborah Harkness.

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