This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Insular script" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Insular (Gaelic) script
The beginning of theGospel of Mark from theBook of Durrow
Script type	Alphabet
Period	fl. 600–850 AD
Languages	Latin,Old Irish,Old English
Related scripts
Parent systems	Latin script Insular (Gaelic) script
Child systems	Gaelic type
This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Insular script is amedievalscript system originating in Ireland that spread toEngland and continental Europe under the influence ofIrish Christianity. Irish missionaries took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries, such asBobbio. The scripts were also used in monasteries, likeFulda, which were influenced by English missionaries. They are associated withInsular art, of which most surviving examples areilluminated manuscripts. It greatly influenced modernGaelic type and handwriting.

The term "Insular script" is used to refer to a diverse family of scripts used for different functions. At the top of the hierarchy was the Insularhalf-uncial (or "Insularmajuscule"), used for important documents and sacred text. The fulluncial, in a version called "English uncial", was used in some English centres. Then "in descending order of formality and increased speed of writing" came "setminuscule", "cursive minuscule" and "current minuscule". These were used for non-scriptural texts, letters, accounting records, notes, and all the other types of written documents.^[1]

The scripts developed in Ireland in the 7th century and were used as late as the 19th century, though its most flourishing period fell between 600 and 850. They were closely related to theuncial andhalf-uncial scripts, their immediate influences; the highest grade of Insular script is the majuscule Insular half-uncial, which is closely derived from Continental half-uncial script.

Works written in Insular scripts commonly use large initial letters surrounded by red ink dots (although this is also true of otherscripts written in Ireland and England). Letters following a large initial at the start of a paragraph or section often gradually diminish in size as they are written across a line or a page, until the normal size is reached, which is called a "diminuendo" effect, and is a distinctive Insular innovation, which later influenced Continental illumination style. Letters withascenders (b,d,h,l, etc.) are written with triangular or wedge-shaped tops. The bows of letters such asb,d,p, andq are very wide. The script uses manyligatures and has many uniquescribal abbreviations, along with many borrowings fromTironian notes.

Insular script was spread to England by theHiberno-Scottish mission; previously, uncial script had been brought to England byAugustine of Canterbury. The influences of both scripts produced the Insular script system.Within this system, the palaeographer Julian Brown identified five grades, with decreasing formality:

• Insular half-uncial, or "Irish majuscule": the most formal; became reserved forrubrics (highlighted directions) and other displays after the 9th century.^[2]
• Insular hybrid minuscule: the most formal of the minuscules, came to be used for formal church books when use of the "Irish majuscule" diminished.^[2]
• Insular set minuscule
• Insular cursive minuscule
• Insular current minuscule: the least formal;^[3]current here means ‘running’ (rapid).^[4]

Brown has also postulated two phases of development for this script, Phase II being mainly influenced by Roman uncial examples, developed atWearmouth-Jarrow and typified by theLindisfarne Gospels.^[5]

Insular script was used not only forLatin religious books, but also for every other kind of book, including vernacular works. Examples include theBook of Kells, theCathach of St. Columba, theAmbrosiana Orosius, theDurham Gospel Fragment, theBook of Durrow, theDurham Gospels, theEchternach Gospels, theLindisfarne Gospels, theLichfield Gospels, theSt. Gall Gospel Book, and theBook of Armagh.

Insular script was influential in the development ofCarolingian minuscule in thescriptoria of the Carolingian empire.^{[citation needed]}

In Ireland, Insular script was superseded inc. 850 by Late Insular script; in England, it was followed by a form ofCaroline minuscule.^{[citation needed]}

TheTironianet,⟨⁊⟩ – equivalent ofampersand⟨&⟩ – was in widespread use in the script (meaningagus 'and' in Irish, andond 'and' inOld English) and is occasionally continued in modernGaelic typefaces derived from Insular script.

This article contains uncommonUnicode characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.

Unicode treats representation of letters of theLatin alphabet written in insular script as a typeface choice that needs no separate coding.^[6] Only a few Insular letters have specific code-points because they are used by phonetic specialists. To render the full alphabet correctly, a suitabledisplay font should be chosen. To display the specialist characters, there are several fonts that may be used; three free ones that support these characters areJunicode, Montagel, and Quivira.Gentium andCharis SIL support ⁊ and the alphabetic letters U+1ACx, U+A77x, U+A78x andU+1D7x.

According toMichael Everson, in the 2006 Unicode proposal for these characters:^[6]

To write text in an ordinaryGaelic font, onlyASCII letters should be used, the font making all the relevant substitutions; the insular letters [proposed here] are for use only by specialists who require them for particular purposes.

• Gaelic type
• Hiberno-Saxon art
• Insular G
• Irish orthography
• Latin delta
• List of Hiberno-Saxon illustrated manuscripts
• Medieval Unicode Font Initiative

• Early medieval insular Gospel Books as part of theEarly Irish Manuscripts Project atTrinity College Dublin Library.

• Bischoff, Bernhard (1990).Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Translated by Ó Cróinín, transl. by Dáibhí; Ganz, David. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521364737.OCLC 18908629. English translation ofBischoff, Bernhard (1985).Paléographie de l'antiquité Romaine et du Moyen Âge occidental. Grands manuels Picard (in French). Paris: Picard.ISBN 9782708401136.OCLC 13239180.
• Brown, Michelle P. (1990).A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600. London: British Library.ISBN 9780712301770.OCLC 781980312.
• Gameson, Richard, ed. (2012).The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, Vol. I (c. 400-1100). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521583459.OCLC 854795008.
• Roberts, Jane (2015).A Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.ISBN 9781781382660.OCLC 920868517.

• Culture of medieval Scotland
• Early medieval literature
• Latin-script calligraphy
• Medieval scripts
• Western calligraphy

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2024
• Articles needing additional references from June 2008
• All articles needing additional references
• Pages with plain IPA
• Articles containing Medieval Latin-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2024
• Articles containing Latin-language text
• Articles containing Old Irish (to 900)-language text
• Articles containing Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language text
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles containing German-language text