Vergilius Vaticanus

Capitalis Rustica

This illuminated vellum page, showing the death of Dido from Vergil’s¹ Aeneid, is from the Vergilius Vaticanus (Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. lat. 3225) and dates to about 400 AD. The 76 surviving leaves, written in capitalis rustica by a single scribe and illuminated by at least three artists, includes portions of Vergil’s Aeneis (Aeneid) and Georgicon (Georgics). It is one of the oldest known sources for the Aeneid and one of only a handful of early illuminated secular titles.²

The Vergilius Vacticanus was most likely written and illustrated in Rome and was probably commissioned as a de luxe edition by a pagan nobleman. Based on annotations to the text it appears to have remained in Italy until at least the seventh century and by ca.850 was in Tours. It, again based on scribal annotations, remained in France as late as 1400. The manuscript ended up in the Biblioteca Apostolica, probably after the Avignon papacy.

Aeneas and Achates building Carthage. Aeneid 1.419. Folio 13, recto

Latin paleography after the capitalis monumentalis (which was covered here) evolved into essentially two different scripts; an informal cursive hand typically used on administrative documents and a more formal square capital hand, used for books.

The first of the square capital forms was the capitalis quadrata (or capitalis elegans). The characters, nearly geometrically square, show a strong modulation of stroke width and include pronounced terminal serifs. The script, however, was difficult to write, requiring a rather significant degree of quill nib manipulation.

Capitalis rustica (or canonical capitalis) evolved from the quadrata as an simpler, and quicker hand. It was written with a strong, consistent slant with a nearly vertical quill nib. The resulting characters are taller than they are wide (although not approaching the magically delicious geometry of the capitalis monumentalis) and show a fair degree of modulation between strokes.

Finally, the uncial forms evolved from the rustica as an even simpler and quicker hand:

Calligraphic examples of quadrata (top), rustica and uncial (bottom). From ref.3

1. Publius Vergilius Maro, AKA Vergil or Virgil (October 15 Oct 70―21 Sept 19 BC), was the most famous of the classical Roman poets. He is best known for three major works; Eclogae (the Eclogues) (ca.42―39 BC), Georgicon (the Georgics) (29 BC) and the epic Aeneis (Aeneid) (29―19 BC). His works, considered staples of the classics canon, are widely available online. For one very good presentation see: the Perseus digital Library.

2. The other early Vergil manuscripts, all from the fifth century AD, are the Vergilius Augustus (seven leaves, split between the Vatican Library and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) and the Vergilius Romanus (Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. lat. 3867), which is shown below:

3. Hans-Eduard Meier. Die Schriftentwicklung. Zürich: Graphis Press, 1959.

21 Jun 2009 ‧ Typographia Historia