The evolution of epigraphical writing in Middle Ages France and its historical issues

Medieval epigraphy in France has made considerable progress over the past four especially with regard to the number of inscriptions that have been published and illustrated. But no general work on inscriptional palaeography has come to supersede the somewhat outdated study by Paul Deschamps (1929), nor have there been any regional surveys similar to those conducted in Germany. From the sixth to the fifteenth century, the letter forms, punctuation, layout and ornament of inscriptions on stone and other materials all developed according to changing factors: the interplay of concepts of legibility and stylistic trends led to results as different as the revival of "classical" letter forms in the Carolingian period and the more innovative letter forms and ornaments of Romanesque scripts. Besides analysing the main features of scripts over the centuries, this study outlines some historical considerations (e.g. cultural, social or political) linked with epigraphic writing. Its development partly parallels that of display scripts in manuscripts, but it also has its own peculiarities, determined by the fact that inscriptions are aimed at a wider audience.