Capital Letters

Topics covered

INTRODUCTION: AVAILABLE

• Ancient Greek & Early Roman: 1850 BCE - 2 CE
  We trace the origins of the Roman alphabet from Egypt through Greece to look at the earliest Roman monolines capitals.

PAIR 1: AVAILABLE

• Romans 1: 27 BCE - 270 CE
  Here we look at the high point of the Imperial tradition of writing roman capitals with broad edged brushes before carving them in stone. We also look at a tradition of compressing these same capitals. 

• Romans 2: 79 - 550 CE
  The Roman script system also incorporated rustics and various forms of cursive handwriting. One of these, old roman cursive (ORC) eventually led to a new formal majuscule book-hand, uncials. 

PAIR 2: AVAILABLE FROM 6 AUGUST

• Early Medieval Europe 1: 500 - 800 CE
  Towards the end of the Roman period a greater variety of forms were in use across the old Roman world from north Italy to Visigothic Spain, the British Isles and Merovingian France.

• Early Medieval Europe 2: 800 - 1000 CE
  A revival of roman classical capitals occurred during the Carolingian period and led to the creation of a new multi stroke version of the capitals that we call versals.

PAIR 3: AVAILABLE FROM 3 SEPTEMBER

• Medieval Europe 1: 1000 - 1200 CE
  Versals become more complex multi-stroked letters as the middle ages progress. Book hands use rustics as capitals that then develop into Gothic capital forms. Gothic cursive scripts with related capitals evolve out of more cursively written Carolingian book hands.

• Medieval Europe 2: 1100 - 1470 CE
  Across the middle ages versals ranged from light weight to heavy 'Lombardic' styles that incorporate both roman and uncial forms.

PAIR 4: AVAILABLE FROM 1 OCTOBER

• Renaissance 1: 1450 - 1550 CE
  The renaissance saw a revival of interest in classical styles of lettering, both with and without serifs. This happened in Florence and also the northern part of Italy (known as the Veneto) where they developed an epigraphic form of the capital, inspired by surviving Roman inscriptions.

• Renaissance 2: 1470 - 1600 CE
  With the establishment of printing in Italy the epigraphic style of capital developed in the Veneto became the standard form for roman capitals in type. Elaborate Gothic capitals continued to be written, particularly in northern Europe and to a certain extent in Spain. Carved roman capitals in Italy became increasingly sophisticated in form.

Where and when

The lectures are available online and can be watched on this website at any time. A pair will be released each month between June and October 2024.

Purchase gives you indefinite access to the videos until at least June 2026.