![]() ![]() And this architecture is important, as it was a major influence for inspiring blackletter calligraphy in the 11th century. However, the term “Gothic” was also used during medieval times in reference to the “Gothic” architecture, which was an architectural style found in many churches and cathedrals built during the Medieval era. The “Goths”, as you’ll read about shortly, were actually Germanic tribes. Centuries after Blackletter’s initial emergence, “Old English Text” was the name of a font by Monotype that mimicked 11th century Textura. “Old English” was actually the language of the Anglo-Saxons until the mid 1100s and they had nothing to do with Blackletter. Let’s take a quick moment to clear up any confusion. What about “Gothic” or “Old English”? Though they have become synonymous with Blackletter script, these terms are actually somewhat inaccurate at their core. We’ve established that “Blackletter” is the term we use to describe calligraphic type developed during Medieval times. However, I’m confident that the timeline is accurate and that the details within will be more than sufficient in understanding and appreciating how Blackletter calligraphy has come to be what it is today. Any dates mentioned herein are approximate and span across over 2.5 millenniums. This article is carefully pieced together from many different sources and referential material. With that said, this is a difficult topic to write about comprehensively. Yet, one cannot find a book detailing the history of the written language that built the foundation upon which we write. It is quite ironic how one can easily find a book spanning hundreds of pages that details just about any point in history. That’s almost 3,000 years ago! Suddenly, several centuries doesn’t actually seem like so long of a time, does it?ĭespite its long and rich history, exhaustive historic documentation of Blackletter calligraphy is fragmented and difficult to find. The history of Blackletter calligraphy is long and fascinating. After all, those fonts are based off of classic “Blackletter” scripts, which is the word we use to describe these styles of scripts developed during Medieval times. You’ve probably heard these terms at some point and perhaps mental images of newspaper headlines come to mind. “Blackletter”, “Gothic”, “Old English”, etc. So what led up to that? And what about “Blackletter”? Sure, that was over 400 years ago, but in the grand timeline of calligraphy, it wasn’t actually that long ago. Copperplate and Spencerian scripts, as we refer to them today, derived from the Roundhand style of calligraphy in the late 16th century. For most, it’s likely to be that elegant style of cursive we all know and love. When the average western layperson thinks of calligraphy, there is no doubt many visuals come to mind. This knowledge will be help inform your studies of flat-pen and/or Blackletter calligraphy and make your journey more purposeful. In this article, you’ll learn about the four core styles of Blackletter scripts, how to distinguish the nuanced differences between each of them, and how they came to be historically after centuries of typographical development.
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