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{{short description|Medieval script developed in southern Italy}}
[[Image:Beneventan.jpeg|thumb|right|Rule of St. Benedict, written at Monte Cassino in the late 11th century]]
The '''Beneventan script''' was a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[writing system|script]] that originated in the [[Duchy of Benevento]] in [[southern Italy]]. In the past it has also been called ''Langobarda'', ''Longobarda'', ''Longobardisca'' (signifying its origins in the territories ruled by the [[Lombards]]), or sometimes ''Gothica''; it was first called ''Beneventan'' by [[palaeography|palaeographer]] [[Elias Avery Lowe|E. A. Lowe]].

It is mostly associated with Italy south of [[Rome]], but it was also used in Beneventan-influenced centres across the [[Adriatic Sea]] in [[Dalmatia]]. The script was used from approximately the mid-8th century until the 13th century, although there are examples from as late as the 16th century. There were two major centres of Beneventan usage: the monastery on [[Monte Cassino]], and [[Bari]]. The Bari type developed in the 10th century from the Monte Cassino type; both were based on [[Roman cursive]] as written by the Langobards. In general the script is very angular. According to Lowe, the perfected form of the script was used in the 11th century, while [[Pope Victor III|Desiderius]] was abbot of Monte Cassino, declining thereafter.

==Features==
Beneventan features many [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]] and "connecting strokes" – the letters of a word could be joined together by a single line, with forms almost unrecognizable to a modern eye.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hudson |first1=John |title=The Beneventan Memory |url=https://www.tiro.com/articles/beneventan |publisher=Tiro Typeworks |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref>

Ligatures may be obligatory as: {{angbr|ei}}, {{angbr|gi}}, {{angbr|li}}, {{angbr|ri}} and {{angbr|ti}} (two different forms: ''ti-dura'' where t had kept the t sound and ''ti-assibilata'' where t had taken the vulgar ts sound). They may be optional: frequent as {{angbr|et}}, {{angbr|ae}} and {{angbr|st}}; or rare as {{angbr|ta}}, {{angbr|to}} and {{angbr|xp}}.<ref name="NewtonF">The Scriptorium and Library at Monte Cassino, 1058-1105, Francis Newton</ref>
Ligatures involving the letter {{angbr|t}} resemble late New Latin Cursive as in the [[Merovingian script|Merovingian]] and [[Visigothic script|Visigothic]],<ref name="NewtonF" /> exception made for peculiar {{angbr|st}} ligature where {{angbr|s}} is connected to {{angbr|t}} on top influencing later on the [[pre-caroline script|German pre-caroline script]] and all the script from this derived until nowadays.<ref>Fonts for latin paleography, 4th ed., Juan-José Marcos</ref> In ligatures {{angbr|t}} can take many forms depending on the letter joined to it. Ligatures with the letters {{angbr|e}} and {{angbr|r}} are also common. In early forms of Beneventan, the letter {{angbr|a}} has an open top, similar to the letter {{angbr|u}}; later, it resembled "cc" or "oc", with long tails hanging to the right. In the Bari type, the letter {{angbr|c}} often has a "broken" form, resembling the Beneventan form of the letter {{angbr|e}}. However, {{angbr|e}} itself has a very long middle arm, distinguishing it from {{angbr|c}}. The letter {{angbr|d}} can have a vertical or left-slanting [[Ascender (typography)|ascender]], the letter {{angbr|g}} resembles the [[uncial]] form, and the letter {{angbr|i}} is very tall and resembles {{angbr|l}}.

The script has a unique way to signify [[Scribal abbreviation|abbreviations]] both by omission and contraction – like most other Latin scripts, missing letters can be signified by a macron over the previous letter, although Beneventan often adds a dot to the macron. There is also a symbol resembling the digit {{angbr|3}}, or a sideways {{angbr|m}}, when the letter {{angbr|m}} has been omitted. In other scripts there is often little or no punctuation, but standard punctuation forms were developed for the Beneventan script, including the basis for the modern [[question mark]].

Beneventan shares some features with Visigothic and Merovingian script, probably due to the common late Roman matrix.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Francesco Bianchi/Antonio Magi Spinetti: BMB. Bibliografia dei manoscritti in scrittura Beneventana, Rom 1993 ff.
* Giulio Battelli: Beneventana, scritture e miniatura, in: Enciclopedia Cattolica II, Città del Vaticano 1949, p. 1617-1618.
* Virginia Brown: A second new list of beneventan manuscripts, in: Studi medievali 40 (1978), p. 239-289
* [[Guglielmo Cavallo]]: Rotoli di Exultet dell'Italia meridionale, Bari 1973.
* [[Guglielmo Cavallo]]: Struttura e articolazione della minuscola beneventana tra i secoli X – XII, in: Studi medievali 3. ser. 11 (1970), p. 343-368.
* Alfonso Gallo: Contributo allo studio delle scritture meridionali nell'alto medio evo, in: Bulletino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano 47 (1931), S. 333-350.
* Elias Avery Lowe: [https://archive.org/details/beneventanscript00loweuoft/page/n3/mode/2up ''The Beneventan Script. A history of the south Italian Minuscule''], Oxford 1914.
* Elias Avery Lowe: Scriptura beneventana. A history of the South Italian minuscule, 2 vol., Oxford 1929.
* Elias Avery Lowe: A new list of beneventan manuscripts. In: Collectanea Vaticana in honorem A. M. card. Albareda, Città del Vaticano1962 (Studi e testi 220), p. 211-244 = ders., Palaographical Papers II, Oxford 1972, p. 417-479.
* Elias Avery Loew [=Lowe]: The Beneventan Script, 2 Bde., 2. Aufl., Rom 1978 - 1980.
* Francis Newton: Fifty Years of Beneventan Studies, in: AfD 50 (2004), p. 327-346.
* Viktor Novak: Scriptura Beneventana, Zagreb 1920

==External links==
* [https://www.typofonts.com/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf 'Fonts for Latin Paleography: User's Manual. 6th edition'] A manual of Latin paleography; a comprehensive PDF file containing 82 pages profusely illustrated, 4 January 2024).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170920063701/http://edu.let.unicas.it/bmb/ Bibliography of beneventan manuscripts]

{{European calligraphy}}
{{list of writing systems}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Latin-script calligraphy]]
[[Category:Medieval scripts]]
[[Category:Duchy of Benevento]]
[[Category:Western calligraphy]]

Beneventan script - Revision history

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