[re: participating in a medieval fair]
Soapmakers were in a Guild, so I thought I’d have a sign that says “Soap
Guild” or something similar to decorate the stand and explain what I am
doing/who I am. Do you know what style of lettering would be appropriate?
There are quite a few types of
medieval calligraphy styles. they
are explained (with pages of how to write them) in:
“Medieval Calligraphy: its history and
technique” Marc Drogin, 1989, isbn 0486261425
My dodgy memory says it goes something like
this: (but don’t trust the order)
Roman scripts
Carolingian (8-9C)
Uncial and also Anglo Saxon scripts ?
Transitional Romanesque scripts (that’s our
period)
Gothic (begins 13th C), various versions
Anyway, you can look for some of those names as
fonts. Watch out for the Gothic – lots of
people do weird versions of it. Uncial and Carolingian are probably the clearest fonts to read at a distance
– they were developed for ease of
reading. later as books became more popular, the script became more cramped in order to fit more words on a page faster,
so they didn’t look as nice nor as easy
to read, but nonchurch people could afford
to have books because of it.
Hope this helps,
~ Teffania / Tiffany Brown
Message #717, January 13, 2003