Insular script

<p>Insular script is a <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">medieval</a> <a href="/facts/Script_(styles_of_handwriting)/lFIUgDeW">script</a> system originating in Ireland that spread to <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a> and continental Europe under the influence of <a href="/facts/Hiberno-Scottish_mission/qsxMGRoq">Irish Christianity</a>. Irish missionaries took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries, such as <a href="/facts/Bobbio_Abbey/cHdukVyY">Bobbio</a>. The scripts were also used in monasteries, like <a href="/facts/Fulda_monastery/gSNnS8RR">Fulda</a>, which were influenced by English missionaries. They are associated with <a href="/facts/Insular_art/np4qDydm">Insular art</a>, of which most surviving examples are <a href="/facts/Illuminated_manuscript/4IPxhUdM">illuminated manuscripts</a>. It greatly influenced modern <a href="/facts/Gaelic_type/bUX3F33v">Gaelic type</a> and handwriting.
</p><p>The term "Insular script" is used to refer to a diverse family of scripts used for different functions. At the top of the hierarchy was the Insular <a href="/facts/Half-uncial/uz6CgI4u">half-uncial</a> (or "Insular <a href="/facts/Majuscule/KQcwaUUD">majuscule</a>"), used for important documents and sacred text. The full <a href="/facts/Uncial/uz6CgI4u">uncial</a>, in a version called "English uncial", was used in some English centres. Then "in descending order of formality and increased speed of writing" came "set <a href="/facts/Lowercase/KQcwaUUD">minuscule</a>", "cursive minuscule" and "current minuscule". These were used for non-scriptural texts, letters, accounting records, notes, and all the other types of written documents.
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Insular script open-in-new

Insular script