Court hand

Common card · No. 473102

Court hand, also known as business, departmental, documentary or charter hands, or Anglicana were any of a number of Gothic scripts used in medieval English law courts and later by professionals such as lawyers and clerks for record keeping. This was in contrast to book hands which were scripts used for library or liturgical manuscripts. The script was in use throughout most of Europe from the late 12th to 17th (or even 18th in certain contexts) centuries and includes scripts such as Cursiva Anglicana, Mongrel Hand, Splayed Hand, Secretary Hand and through the latter's combination with Humanistic Hand, Mixed hand, which in turn gave rise to English Round Hand. Variants of Chancery Hand continued to be used into the 18th century until 1731.

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