Merovingian script was a medieval script so called because it was developed in France during the Merovingian dynasty. It was used in the 7th and 8th centuries before the Carolingian dynasty and the development of Carolingian minuscule. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... For other uses of the term Merovingian, see Merovingian (disambiguation). ... // Overview Events The Roman-Persian Wars end. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... The Carolingians (also known as the Carlovingians) were a dynasty of rulers that eventually controlled the Frankish realm and its successors from the 8th to the 10th century, officially taking over the kingdoms from the Merovingian dynasty in 751. ... Example from 10th century manuscript Carolingian minuscule is a script developed as a writing standard in Europe so that the Roman alphabet could be easily recognized by the small literate class from one region to another. ...

There were four major centres of Merovingian script: the monasteries of Luxeuil, Laon, Corbie, and Chelles. Each script developed from uncial, half-uncial, and the Merovingian charter scripts. The Abbey of Luxeuil (Departement of Haute-Saône in Franche-Comté, France), the most famous early medieval monastery in Burgundian Franche-Comté, was founded ca 585 - 590 by the great Irish monk, St. ... Laon is a city and commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Aisne département. ... Corbie is a commune of the Somme département, in northern France. ... Chelles is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. ... The Book of Kells, c. ... The Book of Kells, c. ...

The Luxeuil type uses distinctive long, slim capital letters as a display script. These capitals have wedge-shaped finials, and the crossbar of A resembles a small letter v while that of H is a wavy line. The letter O is often written as a diamond shape, with a smaller o written inside. In the Luxeuil minuscule script, the letter a resembles two letter cs ("cc"); b often has an open bow, and an arm connecting it to the following letter. Because of these features the Luxeuil type is sometimes called "a-b type." The letter d can have either a vertical ascender or an ascender slanted to the left; i is often very tall, resembling l; n can be written with an uncial form (similar to a capital N); o is often oval-shaped and has a line connecting it to the next letter; and t has a loop extending to the left of its top stroke. The letter t is also used in numerous ligatures where it has many other forms. The letters e and r are also quite often found in ligature. Minuscule, or lower case, is the smaller form (case) of letters (in the Roman alphabet: a, b, c, ...). Originally alphabets were written entirely in majuscule (capital) letters which were spaced between well-defined upper and lower bounds. ... The ascenders are the parts of the characters that lie above the midline, highlighted in red. ... In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ...

The Laon type has thicker display capitals than the Luxeuil type. Capital initial letters are often decorated with animals, and there are many ligatures with the letter i. Like Visigothic script, there are two different ti ligatures, representing two different sounds ("hard" and "soft"). The letters d and q often have open bows. The letter a is unique, resembling two sharp points ("<<"), and the letter z, uncommon in Latin, is nevertheless very distinctive in the Laon type, with a flourish projecting upwards to the left, above the line. Because of these features, Laon type is sometimes called "a-z type." Visigothic script was a type of medieval script, so called because it originated in the Visigothic kingdom in Spain. ...

The Corbie type as used in the 8th century, was based on uncial and the Luxeuil type, but was also similar to half-uncial and insular script, with elements of Roman cursive. It is sometimes called "eN-type," as the letter e has a high, open upper loop, and the uncial form of the letter n (resembling majuscule N) is very frequently used. After the mid-8th century, the letter a also has an open loop and resembles the letter u; this type is referred to as "eNa-type." A more distinctive type was developed at Corbie in the 9th century, the "a-b type." The letter b is similar to Luxeuil type, but the letter a has a straight first stroke, resembling a combination of i and c. This type was used from the end of the 8th century until the mid-9th century. The beginning of the Gospel of Mark from the Book of Durrow. ...

The Chelles type was similar to the Luxeuil a-b type. Other features include the uncial N, with strokes leaning to the left; the letter d with an ascender leaning to the left; the letter g with a descender resembling the letter s; the letter s with a very small top loop; and the letter x with the two strokes crossing near the top of the line rather than the middle. The descenders are the parts of the characters that lie below the baseline, highlighted in red. ...

There was also a Merovingian cursive script, used in charters and non-religious writings. All of these types were later influenced by Carolingian script, which eventually replaced it entirely. Cursive is a style of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single (complicated) stroke. ...

Along with resemblances to Carolingian and Visigothic, Merovingian shares some features with Beneventan script. Rule of St. ...