The focus will be on what is now the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, though the international nature of literary culture means that there is considerable cross-fertilization of traditions.;xNLx;;xNLx;This timeline benefits from a number of sources, including the invaluable [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). Images are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license unless otherwise stated. All errors are my own.;xNLx;;xNLx;Compiled by Miriam Jones, Humanities and Languages, [University of New Brunswick Saint John](https://unb.ca), in Menahkwesk on the unceded land of the Wabanaki Confederacy.;xNLx;;xNLx;Background images:;xNLx;;xNLx;Roman Cursive (Wikimedia Commons) ;xNLx;;xNLx;Tabula Claudiana. Discovered at Côte Saint-Sébastien, in Lyon, in 1528. (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Rustic Capitals (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Gospel Book Fragment, Durham Cathedral (Wikimedia Commons) ;xNLx;;xNLx;From the Book of Durrow, 7thc (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Opening page, The Wife of Bath's Prologue, Ellesmere manuscript (early 15yhc) of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Carolingian minuscule (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Example of Blackletter (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Italique hande from A booke containing diuers sortes of hands... by Jehan de Beau-Chesne and John Baildon (1570), 1602 edition (Wikimedia Commons), the first writing manual to have been published in England.;xNLx;;xNLx;Plate from Maria Strick, Schrijfvoorbeeld met kapitaal OSchat oft voorbeelt ende verthooninge van verscheyden geschriften, 1618 (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Trade card, John Brown, Chairs and Cabinetry, London, Vignette and calligraphy by Joseph Champion c. 1742–61 (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx; ;xNLx;From Penman's Art Journal (1898) (Wikimedia Commons);xNLx;;xNLx;Edward Johnston, letters, London Transport Museum Wikimedia Commons;xNLx;;xNLx;Asemic writing: Nancy Bell Scott, “Page 132”, Asemic writing (Critica Impura);xNLx;;xNLx;This page: Denis Brown, 2006 (Wikimedia Commons)
"The script was used between the 1st century and the 9th century, most often between the 4th and 6th centuries. After the 5th century, rustic capitals began to fall out of use, but they continued to be used as a display script in titles and headings, along with uncial as the script of the main text" (Wikipedia).
Capitalis monumentalis, or Imperial Roman capitals, first appeared in 43 BCE, but calligraphic history focuses on the inscription on the Trajan column of 113 CE. Roman capitals were both foundational to all subsequent calligraphic hands, and, unlike many other hands, they continue in mainstream use to this day in close to their original forms.
Roman Cursive is traditionally divided into two periods: Old Roman Cursive from 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE, and New Roman Cursive from the 3rd to the 7th centuries
The Trajan Column was built in Rome to commemorate Emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian wars.
"Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic and Coptic" (Wikipedia).
fl. 600–850 AD
A medieval script developed in Gaul.
A medieval script that developed on the Iberian peninsula.
A medieval script that developed in southern Italy.
