"The period of Charlemagne is an epoch in the history of the handwritings of Western Europe. With the revival of learning naturally came a reform of the writing in which the works of literature were to be made known. A decree of the year 789 called for the revision of church books; and this work naturally brought with it a great activity in the writing schools of the chief monastic centres of France. And in none was there greater activity than at Tours, where, under the rule of Alcuin of York, who was abbot of St. Martin's from 796 to 804, was specially developed the exact hand which has received the name of the Caroline Minuscule."[9] [p042]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--British Museum: Harl. MS. 2790. Caroline MS. _first half of_ 9th century. (See also fig. 171 & p. 305.)]
The influence of the Caroline hands (see fig. 8) presently spread throughout Europe. The letters in our modern copy-books may be regarded as their direct, though degenerate, descendants.
_SLANTED-PEN or TILTED WRITING._--The forms of the letters in early writing indicate an easily held pen--slanted away from the right shoulder. The slanted pen naturally produced _oblique_ thick strokes and thin strokes, and the letters were "tilted" (see fig. 9).
In the highly finished hands--used from the sixth to the eighth centuries--such as the later Uncials and the Roman, Irish, and English Half-Uncials, the pen was manipulated or cut so that the thin strokes were approximately horizontal, and the thick strokes vertical (fig. 10). The earlier and easier practice came into fashion again in the eighth and ninth centuries, and the round Irish and English hands became "pointed" as a result of slanting the pen.
The alteration in widths and directions of pen strokes, due to the use of the "slanted pen," had these effects on the half-uncial forms (see fig. 11):--
1. _The thin strokes taking an oblique_ (_upward_) _direction_ (_a_) (giving a sharp angle with the verticals (_d_, _a_)) led to angularity and narrower forms (_a_^1), and a marked contrast between thick and thin strokes--due to the abrupt change from one to the other (_a_^2).
2. _The thick strokes becoming oblique_ (_b_) caused a thickening of the curves below on the left (_b_^1), and above on the right (_b_^2), which gave heavy shoulders and feet.