Free Old English Letters

The above facts and information about the Old English Letters used during Elizabethan times help to clarify the confusion surrounding the translation of old English documents! The facts explain why the old English letters in Elizabethan manuscripts look different to the way they are written in modern English! They also explain why English words were spelt differently in the Elizabethan language and why old English letters were written differently in the Elizabethan era! The above explanations about old English letters provide valuable information for those wishing to try the translation of an Elizabethan document!

This information about the old English Elizabethan Language and the Elizabethan Online Dictionary for an easy to follow Elizabethan language guide! The translation and definition of the Elizabethan words and meanings used in the Elizabethan language make the literature of the era, including the works of William Shakespeare much easier to understand!

old english font - Old English Ireland

The Old English (Irish: Seanghaill, meaning "old foreigners") were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries. 

Some were dispossessed in the political and religious conflicts during and after the Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, largely due to their continued adherence to the Roman Catholic religion. The so-called New English otherwise known as the settlers of the Protestant Ascendancy had largely replaced them by 1700.

old english calligraphy alphabet

Old English calligraphy, also referred to as blackletter script, means "beautiful writing," derived from the Greek words "calli" and "graphien." The letters are made up of thin and thick strokes from a quill stylus dipped into a jar of ink. Calligraphy was the main way books were written before the invention of the printing press.

History

Old English calligraphy goes by different names, including blackletter and gothic. This type of calligraphy was adopted and transformed from the Chinese calligraphers of the east. Chinese calligraphy is done with an ink brush and in a flowing, artistic manner. Old English calligraphy was meant for books written by scribes on parchment and vellum. The link between Chinese calligraphy and Old English calligraphy comes from the Phoenicians, who are credited with the first alphabet and letter writing systems and passed their knowledge through travel to the Greeks. In turn the Greeks created their own writing style and by 850 BC the Romans had changed it to suit the spoken Latin language. As the Roman churches started spreading through Europe during the Middle Ages, so did the calligraphic writings.

Function

The purpose of Old English calligraphy came about to save on the cost of paper or parchment and vellum, which were expensive. Scribes who were monks worked in the scriptorium of the monasteries and thinned out the letters of calligraphy. This was done to allow more words on a single line. This type of Old English calligraphy lasted well past the Middle Ages until the onset of the printing press. Beautifully decorated books filled with Old English calligraphy were often biblical. As only monks and some high-ranking nobility were literate, these books were made for high-ranking church members as well as royalty.