The Tremulous Hand of Worcester: A Study of Old English in the Thirteenth Century

by Christine Franzen

The shaky handwriting of the thirteenth-century scribe known as the "tremulous hand of Worcester" is well known to scholars and students of Old and early Middle English. This book examines the full range of the scribe's work and answers such important questions as why he glossed the words he did and how well he knew or came to know Old English. This first full-scale study of the subject provides a wealth of information about the state of the English language at a transitional point in its history.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 1991