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THE LATIN ALPHABET
547 like a p, and there were two additional signs, representing the sounds th and dh; the thorn or th-sign disappeared only with the introduction of printing.
The Anglo-Saxon handwriting was bold and clear, and it has come down to us in copies of books and in royal and other charters mainly written and preserved in monasteries and cathedrals. There seems to be no doubt that the reign of Alfred the Great (849-901) did much to revive the knowledge of writing, under his successors the introduction of
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Dun nou an sasao lacht. Oeus log oun art flachu amal Fig. 246-1. The end of a Merovingian document of A.D. 583.
2, Specimen of Irish script (ninth century A.D.)
foreign styles, stimulated a new attention to literature, neglected during the Danish invasion, except among a few professed scholars.
Caroline or Curolingian Hand At the end of the eighth century, probably under Charlemagne, or perhaps earlier, the beautiful, widely spaced and rounded letters known as Caroline or Carolingian minuscule was formed in the Frankish empire as well as in northern and central Italy and in Germany, probably under the influence of the Anglo-Irish hand. It is, however, still uncertain what exact part Charlemagne (1742-814) and his friend Alcuin of York (735-804), the founder of the famous school of Tours, played in the creation of the Caroline hand. However this script became the literary hand of
