Page "Carolingian minuscule" Paragraph 12

The new script spread through Western Europe most widely where Carolingian influence was strongest.

In luxuriously produced Lectionaries that now began to be produced for princely patronage of abbots and bishops, legibility was essential.

It reached far afield: the 10th century Freising manuscripts, which contain the oldest Slovene language, the first Roman-script record of any Slavic language, are written in Carolingian minuscule.

In Switzerland, Carolingian was used in the Rhaetian and Alemannic minuscule types.

Manuscripts written in Rhaetian minuscule tend to have slender letters, resembling Insular script, with the letters a and t, and ligatures such as ri, showing similar to Visigothic and Beneventan.

Alemannic minuscule, used for a short time in the early 9th century, is usually larger and broader, very vertical compared to the slanting Rhaetian type.

In Austria, Salzburg was the major centre of Carolingian script, while Fulda, Mainz, and Würzburg were the major centres in Germany.

German minuscule tends to be oval-shaped, very slender, and slants to the right.

It has uncial features as well, such as the ascender of the letter d slanting to the left, and vertical initial strokes of m and n.