Alphabet collections were compiled with varying degrees of accuracy in medieval England. This example composed in the late 11th century features the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets accompanied by letter forms, descriptions of pronunciations, and numerical equivalents.
The collection appears in a miscellany featuring astrological treatises and calendars. The Lord’s Prayer has been inserted in Old English (Fader ure þe giert on heofena) underneath the main text of a Latin penitential work by Bartholomew of Exeter (d. 1184).
This manuscript was digitised with the support of The Polonsky Foundation.
Public Domain in most countries other than the UK.
In this survey Damian Fleming explores the early medieval Christian experience of Hebrew as a sacred and practical language.
Calum Cockburn explores what happened to the writing of the vernacular after William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066.
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