A Brief History of Gothic Script

A Brief History of Gothic Script.

Gothic scripts derives from Caroline Minuscule which first appears in manuscripts of the 12th century.

The next stage seems to be Textura Quadrata used from 1200 to 1500 and named after the squared off  four cornered letter shapes with a variant form called Quadrata prescisus vel sine pedibus.

Basically the same but no diamond points at the bottom of letters.

Then there's Quadrata minuscule from the end of the Middle ages and  the more cursive Secretary hand used by scribes from the 13th to 17th centuries which has a modern simplified version.

Fraktur style Goth scripts and fonts date back to 1400 and are still in use today.

There's also Schwabacher and a French script called Batarde .

Rudolf Koch encouraged the revival of Gothic script with his modern Gothic minuscule script and Gothic Capitals and reworkings of several types of Gothic scripts into simpler elegant modern forms for calligraphy and typography.

Now I've given you lots of key words to use for your own research.

Enjoy looking for beautiful letter forms be they Gothic or other!