Blackletter

"Black letter" and "Gothic minuscule" redirect here. For the legal concept, seeBlack letter law.For other uses, seeGothic script (disambiguation).

Latin script, Blackletter hand
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	12th–17th century
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Western and Northern European languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	Latin script Carolingian minuscule Latin script, Blackletter hand
Child systems	Fraktur(Frakturandblackletterare sometimes used interchangeably),KurrentschriftincludingSütterlin
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Latf(217),​Latin (Fraktur variant)
Unicode
Unicode range	1D504–1D537,with some exceptions (seebelow)

Blackletter(sometimesblack letterorblack-letter), also known asGothic script,Gothic minusculeorGothic type,was a script used throughoutWestern Europefrom approximately 1150 until the 17th century.It continued to be commonly used for Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish until the 1870s,Finnish until the turn of the 20th century,Latvian until the 1930s,and for the German language until the 1940s, whenHitlerofficiallydiscontinued itin 1941.Frakturis a notable script of this type, and sometimes the entire group of blackletter faces is referred to as Fraktur. Blackletter is sometimes referred to asOld English,but it is not to be confused with theOld Englishlanguage, which predates blackletter by many centuries and was written in theinsular scriptor inFuthorc.Along withItalic typeandRoman type,blackletter served as one of the majortypefacesin thehistory of Western typography.

Origins

Page from a 14th-centurypsalter(VulgatePs 93:16–21), with blackletter "sine pedibus"text.Luttrell Psalter,British Library.

Carolingian minusculewas the direct ancestor of blackletter. Blackletter developed from Carolingian as an increasingly literate 12th-century Europe required new books in many different subjects. Newuniversitieswere founded, each producing books forbusiness,law,grammar,historyand other pursuits, not solely religious works, for which earlierscriptstypically had been used.

Various German language blackletter typefaces

English blackletter typefaces highlighting differences between select characters

Modern interpretation of blackletter script in the form of the font "Old English" which includes severalanachronisticglyphs, such asArabic numerals,ampersand (instead ofTironian et) and several punctuation marks, but lacks letter alternatives like long⟨s⟩and⟨r⟩rotunda, scribal abbreviations and ligatures, and contains several relatively modern versions of letters such as⟨x⟩,which is confusable with the letter⟨r⟩.

These books needed to be produced quickly to keep up with demand. Labor-intensive Carolingian, though legible, was unable to effectively keep up.Its large size consumed a lot ofmanuscriptspace in a time when writing materials were very costly. As early as the 11th century, different forms of Carolingian were already being used, and by the mid-12th century, a clearly distinguishable form, able to be written more quickly to meet the demand for new books,was being used in northeasternFranceand theLow Countries.

Etymology

Page of a rare blackletter Bible, 1497, printed in Strasbourg byJohann Grüninger,then one of the city's most prolific printers. The red chapter initials were handwritten by arubricatorafter printing.

The termGothicwas first used to describe this script in 15th-centuryItaly,in the midst of theRenaissance,becauseRenaissance humanistsbelieved this style was barbaric, andGothicwas a synonym forbarbaric.Flavio Biondo,inItalia Illustrata(1474), wrote that the GermanicLombardsinvented this script after they invaded Italy in the 6th century.

Not only were blackletter forms calledGothic script,but any other seemingly barbarian script, such asVisigothic,Beneventan,andMerovingian,were also labeledGothic.This in contrast toCarolingian minuscule,a highly legible script which the humanists calledlittera antiqua( "the ancient letter" ), wrongly believing that it was the script used by theancient Romans.It was in fact invented in the reign ofCharlemagne,although only used significantly after that era, and actually formed the basis for the later development of blackletter.

Blackletter script should not be confused with either the ancientAlpha bet of the Gothic languagenor with thesans-seriftypefacesthat are also sometimes calledGothic.

Forms

Early Gothic

It is difficult to be specific about the time at whichEarly Gothic(orProto Gothic) was born and later died, because it was an interim script spanningCarolingian Minusculeand the Gothictexturascripts.It can generally be said that it was used in the 11th and 12th centuries, CE. As universities began to populate Europe a need for a more rapid writing technology led to the development of this script. The rounded forms of Carolingian became angular flicks of the quill, and both letters and words became compressed.

Early Gothic is characterized by a number of factors. There are no capital letters for this script. InsteadRoman Rustic,Roman SquareorUncialletters were used.Versalswere most oftenLombardic Capitalsusually painted in bright colors. Other features are split acenders, a storied 'a', both the standard 'r' and ahalf 'r'〈ꝛ〉 used after letters with bowls. Thelong 's'〈ſ〉 is used primarily, but there are examples of the short 's' in some manuscripts. Punctuation is limited, usually only full stops and commas, and they are usually rendered at the mid-line.

As the script continued to evolve and become ever more angular, vertical and compressed, it began its transition to thetexturahands.

Textura

Textualis,also known astexturaor "Gothic bookhand", was the mostcalligraphicform of blackletter, and today is the form most associated with "Gothic".Johannes Gutenbergcarved atextualistypeface—including a large number ofligaturesand common abbreviations—when he printed his42-line Bible.However,textualiswas rarely used for typefaces after this.

According to Dutch scholar Gerard Lieftinck, the pinnacle of blackletter use was reached in the 14th and 15th centuries. For Lieftinck, the highest form oftextualiswaslittera textualis formata,used forde luxemanuscripts. The usual form, simplylittera textualis,was used for literary works and university texts. Lieftinck's third form,littera textualis currens,was thecursiveform of blackletter, extremely difficult to read and used for textualglosses,and less important books.

Textualiswas most widely used in France, the Low Countries,England,andGermany.Some characteristics of the script are:

• Tall, narrow letters, as compared to their Carolingian counterparts.
• Letters formed by sharp, straight, angular lines, unlike the typically round Carolingian; as a result, there is a high degree of "breaking", i.e. lines that do not necessarily connect with each other, especially in curved letters.
• Ascenders(in letters such as⟨b⟩,⟨d⟩,⟨h⟩) are vertical and often end in sharpfinials.
• When a letter with a bow (in⟨b⟩,⟨d⟩,⟨p⟩,⟨q⟩) is followed by another letter with a bow (such as⟨be⟩or⟨po⟩), the bows overlap and the letters are joined by a straight line (this is known as "biting" ).
• A related characteristic is thehalf r(also calledr rotunda), the shape of⟨r⟩when attached to other letters with bows; only the bow and tail were written, connected to the bow of the previous letter. In other scripts, this only occurred in aligaturewith the letter⟨o⟩.
• Similarly related is the form of the letter⟨d⟩when followed by a letter with a bow; its ascender is then curved to the left, like theuncial⟨d⟩.Otherwise the ascender is vertical.
• The letters⟨g⟩,⟨j⟩,⟨p⟩,⟨q⟩,⟨y⟩,and the hook of⟨h⟩have descenders, but no other letters are written below the line.
• The letter⟨a⟩has a straight back stroke, and the top loop eventually became closed, somewhat resembling the number⟨8⟩.The letter⟨s⟩often has a diagonal line connecting its two bows, also somewhat resembling an⟨8⟩,but thelong sis frequently used in the middle of words.
• Minims,especially in the later period of the script, do not connect with each other. This makes it very difficult to distinguish between⟨i⟩,⟨u⟩,⟨m⟩,and⟨n⟩.A 14th-century example of the difficulty that minims produced is:mimi numinum niuium minimi munium nimium uini muniminum imminui uiui minimum uolunt( "the smallest mimes of the gods of snow do not wish at all in their life that the great duty of the defenses of wine be diminished" ). In blackletter, this would look like a series of single strokes. As a result,dotted⟨i⟩and⟨j⟩(and briefly⟨y⟩) were subsequently developed.Minims may also have finals of their own.
• The script has many morescribal abbreviationsthan Carolingian, adding to the speed in which it could be written.

Schwabacher

Main article:Schwabacher

Schwabacherwas a blackletter form that was much used in early German print typefaces. It continued to be used occasionally until the 20th century. Characteristics of Schwabacher are:

• The small letter⟨o⟩is rounded on both sides, though at the top and at the bottom, the two strokes join in an angle. Other small letters have analogous forms.
• The small letter⟨g⟩has a horizontal stroke at its top that forms crosses with the two downward strokes.
• The capital letter⟨H⟩has a peculiar form somewhat reminiscent of the small letter⟨h⟩.

Fraktur

Main article:Fraktur

Frakturis a form of blackletter that became the most common German blackletter typeface by the mid-16th century. Its use was so common that often any blackletter form is calledFrakturin Germany. Characteristics of Fraktur are:

• The left side of the small letter⟨o⟩is formed by an angular stroke, the right side by a rounded stroke. At the top and at the bottom, both strokes join in an angle. Other small letters have analogous forms.
• The capital letters are compound of rounded⟨c⟩-shaped or⟨s⟩-shaped strokes.

Here is the entire Alpha bet in Fraktur (minus thelong sand thesharp s⟨ß⟩), using theAMS EulerFraktur typeface:

${\mathfrak {A}}{\mathfrak {B}}{\mathfrak {C}}{\mathfrak {D}}{\mathfrak {E}}{\mathfrak {F}}{\mathfrak {G}}{\mathfrak {H}}{\mathfrak {I}}{\mathfrak {J}}{\mathfrak {K}}{\mathfrak {L}}{\mathfrak {M}}{\mathfrak {N}}{\mathfrak {O}}{\mathfrak {P}}{\mathfrak {Q}}{\mathfrak {R}}{\mathfrak {S}}{\mathfrak {T}}{\mathfrak {U}}{\mathfrak {V}}{\mathfrak {W}}{\mathfrak {X}}{\mathfrak {Y}}{\mathfrak {Z}}$

${\mathfrak {a}}{\mathfrak {b}}{\mathfrak {c}}{\mathfrak {d}}{\mathfrak {e}}{\mathfrak {f}}{\mathfrak {g}}{\mathfrak {h}}{\mathfrak {i}}{\mathfrak {j}}{\mathfrak {k}}{\mathfrak {l}}{\mathfrak {m}}{\mathfrak {n}}{\mathfrak {o}}{\mathfrak {p}}{\mathfrak {q}}{\mathfrak {r}}{\mathfrak {s}}{\mathfrak {t}}{\mathfrak {u}}{\mathfrak {v}}{\mathfrak {w}}{\mathfrak {x}}{\mathfrak {y}}{\mathfrak {z}}$

Cursiva

Cursivarefers to a very large variety of forms of blackletter; as with moderncursive writing,there is no real standard form. It developed in the 14th century as a simplified form oftextualis,with influence from the form oftextualisas used for writingcharters.Cursivadeveloped partly because of the introduction ofpaper,which was smoother thanparchment.It was therefore, easier to write quickly on paper in acursivescript.

Incursiva,descenders are more frequent, especially in the letters⟨f⟩and⟨s⟩,and ascenders are curved and looped rather than vertical (seen especially in the letter⟨d⟩). The letters⟨a⟩,⟨g⟩and⟨s⟩(at the end of a word) are very similar to their Carolingian forms. However, not all of these features are found in every example ofcursiva,which makes it difficult to determine whether or not a script may be calledcursivaat all.

Lieftinck also dividedcursivainto three styles:littera cursiva formatawas the most legible and calligraphic style.Littera cursiva textualis(orlibraria) was the usual form, used for writing standard books, and it generally was written with a larger pen, leading to larger letters.Littera cursiva currenswas used for textbooks and other unimportant books and it had very little standardization in forms.

Hybrida

Hybridais also calledbastarda(especially in France), and as its name suggests, is a hybrid form of the script. It is a mixture oftextualisandcursiva,developed in the early 15th century. Fromtextualis,it borrowed vertical ascenders, while fromcursiva,it borrowed long⟨f⟩and⟨ſ⟩,single-looped⟨a⟩,and⟨g⟩with an open descender (similar to Carolingian forms).

Donatus-Kalender

TheDonatus-Kalender(also known as Donatus-und-Kalender or D-K) is the name for the metal type design thatGutenbergused in his earliest surviving printed works, dating from the early 1450s. The name is taken from two works: theArs grammaticaofAelius Donatus,a Latin grammar, and the Kalender (calendar).It is a form of textura.

Blackletter typesetting

While anantiquatypeface is usually a compound ofroman typesanditalic typessince the 16th-century French typographers, the blackletter typefaces never developed a similar distinction. Instead, they useletterspacing(GermanSperrung) for emphasis. When blackletter is letterspaced, ligatures like⟨ch⟩,⟨ck⟩,⟨tz⟩or⟨ſt⟩remain together without additional letterspacing (⟨ſt⟩is dissolved, though).

The use of bold text for emphasis is also alien to blackletter typefaces.

Words from other languages, especially from Romance languages including Latin, are usually typeset in antiqua instead of blackletter.The practice of setting foreign words or phrases in antiqua within a blackletter text does not apply to loanwords that have been incorporated into the language.

National forms

England

Textualis

Blackletter in a Latin Bible of 1407AD,on display inMalmesbury Abbey,Wiltshire, England

Englishblackletter developed from the form ofCarolingian minusculeused there after theNorman Conquest,sometimes called "Romanesque minuscule".Textualisforms developed after 1190 and were used most often until approximately 1300, after which it became used mainly forde luxemanuscripts. English forms of blackletter have been studied extensively and may be divided into many categories.Textualis formata( "Old English" or "blackletter" ),textualis prescissa(ortextualis sine pedibus,as it generally lacks feet on its minims),textualis quadrata(orpsalterialis) andsemi-quadrata,andtextualis rotundaare various forms of high-gradeformatastyles of blackletter.

TheUniversity of Oxfordborrowed thelittera parisiensisin the 13th century and early 14th century, and thelittera oxoniensisform is almost indistinguishable from its Parisian counterpart; however, there are a few differences, such as the round final⟨s⟩forms, resembling the number⟨8⟩,rather than the long⟨s⟩used in the final position in the Paris script.

Handbill of 1715, with the main text in blackletter type, publishing a royal proclamation for the apprehension of theJacobiteleaderSir William Wyndham

Printers of the late 15th and early 16th centuries commonly used blackletter typefaces, but under the influence ofRenaissancetastes,Roman typefacesgrew in popularity, until by about 1590 most presses had converted to them.However, blackletter was considered to be more readily legible (especially by the less literate classes of society), and it therefore remained in use throughout the 17th century and into the 18th for documents intended for widespread dissemination, such asproclamationsandActs of Parliament,and for literature aimed at the common people, such asballads,chivalric romances, and jokebooks.

Chaucer's works had been printed in blackletter in the late 15th century, but were subsequently more usually printed in Roman type.Horace Walpolewrote in 1781 that "I am too, though a Goth, so modern a Goth that I hate the black letter, and I love Chaucer better inDrydenandBaskervillethan in his own language and dress. "

Cursiva

Englishcursiva(Cursiva Anglicana) began to be used in the 13th century, and soon replacedlittera oxoniensisas the standard university script. The earliest cursive blackletter form isAnglicana,a very round and looped script, which also had a squarer and angular counterpart,Anglicana formata.Theformataform was used until the 15th century and also was used to write vernacular texts. AnAnglicana bastardaform developed from a mixture ofAnglicanaandtextualis,but by the 16th century, the principal cursive blackletter used in England was theSecretary script,which originated inItalyand came to England by way of France. Secretary script has a somewhat haphazard appearance and its forms of the letters⟨a⟩,⟨g⟩,⟨r⟩,and⟨s⟩are unique, unlike any forms in any other English script. The legacy of these English cursive Gothic forms survived in common use as late as the 18th century in thecourt handused for some legal records.

France

Textualis

Frenchtextualiswas tall and narrow compared to other national forms, and was most fully developed in the late 13th century in Paris. In the 13th century there also was an extremely small version oftextualisused to write miniature Bibles, known as "pearl script". Another form of French textualis in this century was the script developed at theUniversity of Paris,littera parisiensis,which also is small in size and designed to be written quickly, not calligraphically.

Cursiva

Frenchcursivawas used from the 13th to the 16th century, when it became highly looped, messy, and slanted.Bastarda,the "hybrid" mixture ofcursivaandtextualis,developed in the 15th century and was used for vernacular texts as well as Latin. A more angular form ofbastardawas used inBurgundy,thelettre de formeorlettre bourgouignonne,forbooks of hourssuch as theTrès Riches HeuresofJohn, Duke of Berry.

Germany

Schwabacherlettering. The text reads:"Beispiel Alte Schwabacher: Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den Sylter Deich."Roughly translated to English, it reads "Example of Old Schwabacher: Victor chases twelveboxersacross the Sylt dike. "

Despite the frequent association of blackletter withGerman,the script was actually very slow to develop in German-speaking areas. It developed first in those areas closest to France and then spread to the east and south in the 13th century. The German-speaking areas are, however, where blackletter remained in use the longest.

Schwabachertypefaces dominated in Germany from about 1480 to 1530, and the style continued in use occasionally until the 20th century. Most importantly, all of the works ofMartin Luther,leading to theProtestant Reformation,as well as theApocalypseofAlbrecht Dürer(1498), used this typeface.Johann Bämler,a printer fromAugsburg,probably first used it as early as 1472. The origins of the name remain unclear; some assume that a typeface-carver from the village of Schwabach—one who worked externally and who thus became known as theSchwabacher—designed the typeface.

Textualis

German-madeTextualistype is usually very heavy and angular, and there are few characteristic features that are common to all occurrences of the script. One common feature is the use of the letter⟨w⟩for Latin⟨vu⟩or⟨uu⟩.Textualiswas first used in the 13th and 14th centuries and subsequently became more elaborate and decorated, and it was generally reserved for liturgical works.

Johann Gutenbergused atextualistypefacefor his famousGutenberg Biblein 1455.Schwabacher,a blackletter with more rounded letters, soon became the usual printedtypeface,but it was replaced byFrakturin the early 17th century.

Frakturlettering. The text reads:"Walbaum-Fraktur: Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den Sylter Deich."Roughly translated to English, it reads "Walbaum Fraktur: Victor chases twelve boxers across the Sylt dyke."

Fraktur came into use when EmperorMaximilian I(1493–1519) established a series of books and had a typeface created specifically for it. In the 19th century, the use of antiqua alongside Fraktur increased, leading to anAntiqua-Fraktur disputewhich lasted until theNazismandated an end to the use of Fraktur in 1941. By then, Fraktur had been the most common and well-known blackletter style in Germany for a long time, and as a result all kinds of blackletter (including Schwabacher, Textualis, and so on) tend to be calledFrakturin German.

Cursiva

Main article:Kurrent

The names of four common blackletter typefaces written in their respective styles

Germancursivais similar to the cursive scripts in other areas, but forms of⟨a⟩,⟨s⟩and other letters are more varied; here too, the letter⟨w⟩is often used. Ahybridaform, which was basicallycursivawith fewer looped letters and with square proportions similar totextualis,was used in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the 18th century, the pointed quill (in contrast to the quill with a wide flat tip) was adopted for blackletter handwriting. In the early 20th century, theSütterlinscript was introduced in the schools.

Italy

Rotunda

Main article:Rotunda (script)

Italianblackletter also is known asrotunda,as it was less angular than those produced by northern printing centers. The most common form of Italianrotundawaslittera bononiensis,used at theUniversity of Bolognain the 13th century. Biting is a common feature inrotunda,but breaking is not.

ItalianRotundaalso is characterized by unique abbreviations, such as⟨q⟩with a line beneath the bow signifyingqui,and unusual spellings, such as⟨x⟩for⟨s⟩(milexrather thanmiles).

Cursiva

Italian cursivedeveloped in the 13th century from scripts used by notaries. The more calligraphic form is known asminuscola cancelleresca italiana(or simplycancelleresca,chancery hand), which developed into abook hand,a script used for writing books rather than charters, in the 14th century.Cancellerescainfluenced the development ofbastardain France andsecretary handin England.

The Netherlands

Textualismixed with select use of Antiqua in an 1853 Dutch edition of theNew Testament

Textualis

Atextualisform, commonly known asGotischor "Gothic script", was used for general publications from the fifteenth century on, but became restricted to official documents and religious publications during the seventeenth century. Its use persisted into the nineteenth century for editions of theState Translationof theBible,but otherwise became obsolete.

Unicode

Mathematical blackletter characters are separately encoded inUnicodein theMathematical Alpha numeric symbolsrange at U+1D504-1D537 and U+1D56C-1D59F (bold), except for individual letters already encoded in theLetterlike Symbolsrange (pluslong sat U+017F).Fonts supporting the range includeCode2001,Cambria Math,Noto SansMath, and Quivira (textura style).

This block of characters is intended for use in setting mathematical texts, which contrast blackletter characters with other letter styles.Outside of mathematics, the character set has seen some limited decorative use, but it lacks punctuation and other characters necessary for running text, and the Unicode standard for setting non-mathematical material in blackletter is to use ordinary Latin code points with a dedicated blackletter font.

Mathematical Fraktur:

𝔄 𝔅 ℭ 𝔇 𝔈 𝔉 𝔊 ℌ ℑ 𝔍 𝔎 𝔏 𝔐 𝔑 𝔒 𝔓 𝔔 ℜ 𝔖 𝔗 𝔘 𝔙 𝔚 𝔛 𝔜 ℨ
𝔞 𝔟 𝔠 𝔡 𝔢 𝔣 𝔤 𝔥 𝔦 𝔧 𝔨 𝔩 𝔪 𝔫 𝔬 𝔭 𝔮 𝔯 𝔰 𝔱 𝔲 𝔳 𝔴 𝔵 𝔶 𝔷

Mathematical Bold Fraktur:

𝕬 𝕭 𝕮 𝕯 𝕰 𝕱 𝕲 𝕳 𝕴 𝕵 𝕶 𝕷 𝕸 𝕹 𝕺 𝕻 𝕼 𝕽 𝕾 𝕿 𝖀 𝖁 𝖂 𝖃 𝖄 𝖅
𝖆 𝖇 𝖈 𝖉 𝖊 𝖋 𝖌 𝖍 𝖎 𝖏 𝖐 𝖑 𝖒 𝖓 𝖔 𝖕 𝖖 𝖗 𝖘 𝖙 𝖚 𝖛 𝖜 𝖝 𝖞 𝖟

Note: (The above may not render fully in all web browsers.)

See also

• Antiqua (typeface class)
• Asemic writing
• Bastarda
• Book hand
• Calligraphy
• Chancery hand
• Court hand(also known as common law hand, Anglicana, cursiva antiquior, or charter hand)
• Cursive
• Handwriting
• History of writing
• Italic script
• Law hand
• Paleography
• Penmanship
• Ronde script (calligraphy)
• Rotunda (script)
• Round hand
• Secretary hand

Further reading

• Bernhard Bischoff,Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages,Cambridge University Press,1989.
• Bain, Peter; Shaw, Paul, eds. (1998).Blackletter: type and national identity.Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.Princeton Architectural Press.ISBN978-1-56898-125-3.

External links

• 'Manual of Latin Palaeography'(A comprehensive PDF file containing 82 pages profusely illustrated, January 2024).
• Learn Blackletter Online
• Association for the German Script and Language
• Pfeffer SimpelgotischA simple OpenType blackletter font setting ſ and s by itself
• London Review of Books article about blackletter fonts and font history in general
• Gothic Calligraphy Workbooks