Medieval script tells time, although usually not very precisely. Take for example the 3 major script families from the medieval period: Caroline minuscule, Pregothic script, and Littera textualis or Gothic script.

Despite the fact that these 3 families are relatively easy to distinguish and identify, they were used for extensive periods of time: Caroline from c. 800 to c. 1050, Pregothic from c. 1050 to c. 1250, and Gothic from c. 1250 to c. 1500. In other words, merely identifying the family of handwriting is not enough to pinpoint when precisely a book was made.

• Uncategorized