Jane Roberts MRIA, FSA, FEA is Emeritus Professor of English Language and Medieval Literature at the University of London, where she is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies. She is the author of A Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500 (Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies, Liverpool University Press, 2015) and co-edited the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2009).

• Some symbols used and miscellaneous information Acknowledgements I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION Intention Overview of the period Preserving the past The naming of scripts Organization A note on the transcriptions A note on the abbreviationsCOLOURED PLATES SECTIONII. INSULAR BACKGROUND III. ANGLO-SAXON MINISCULE IV. ENGLISH CAROLINE MINISCULE V. PROTOGOTHIC VI. THE GOTHIC SYSTEM OF SCRIPTS: GOTHIC TEXTUALIS VII. THE GOTHIC SYSTEM OF SCRIPTS: ANGLICANA VIII. THE GOTHIC SYSTEM OF SCRIPTS: SECRETARY IX. AFTERWORD REFERENCES INDEXES Names of people and places in the plates People named in the commentaries to the plates Index of manuscript pages discussed Index of other manuscript pages reproduced, tables, etc