656 Scriptures
appearance of the script called Gothic which led once
more to two distinct styles: a formal book script, and a
more cursive hand used in CHARTERSand documents.
EVOLUTION OF GOTHIC SCRIPTDuring the 12th century, because of the rise of schools
and UNIVERSITIES, and the consequent increased demand
for schoolbooks, the writing style for these books evolved
toward the new Gothic script. It was not necessarily con-
venient for practical use but was more economical. Its
graphic forms were simplified, rapidly drawn and huddled
up. It used many abbreviations. It can be exemplified by
the university or “Scholastic” scripts, including regional
variations in BOLOGNA,PARIS, and OXFORD. These Gothic
variations were more or less derived from notarial scripts
and from actual and practical usage. From the 13th cen-
tury, Latin script was written in three styles: book script,
university script, and documentary script.
AWAY FROM GOTHIC SCRIPTThere was radical reaction against the Scholastic or
“Gothic” hand by the early humanists. They promoted,
initially for their private use, a clear chancery script. The
humanists were the great discoverers of antiquities and
“antique” manuscripts and promoted a style of writing
done for clarity and legibility. It was derived from the
script fostered by the Carolingian reform movement.
In the 14th century PETRARCHdenounced Gothic
script as artificial and too hard for easy reading. This crit-
icism was seconded by Coluccio SALUTATI(1331–1406),
the chancellor of the Florentine Republic, and Niccolò
Niccoli (1364–1437). Another promoter was Poggio
BRACCIOLINI(1380–1459) later chancellor of the Floren-
tine Republic and one of the greatest discoverers of classi-
cal manuscripts. From about 1402 he had perfected a
copy of Carolingian hand for his transcriptions of the
manuscripts of Cicero’s works. His writing was the foun-
dational style for the humanist reform of writing. These
forms of letters were soon noticed and used by the first
printers and eventually became a standard type form, of
which the modern roman type is a direct descendant.
See alsoPALEOGRAPHY: SCRIPTORIUM.
Further reading: Rutherford Aris, Explicatio for-
marum litterarum—The Unfolding of Letterforms: From the
First Century to the Fifteenth(St. Paul: Calligraphy Con-
nection, 1990); Michelle P. Brown, A Guide to Western
Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600(Toronto: Univer-
sity of Toronto Press, 1990); Michelle P. Brown and Patri-
cia Lovett, The Historical Source Book for Scribes(London:
The British Library, 1999); Stan Knight, Historical Scripts:
A Handbook for Calligraphers(London: A. & C. Black,
1984); John Lancaster, Writing Medieval Scripts(London:
Dryad Press, 1988).
Scriptures SeeBIBLE.
Scrovegni Family SeeGIOTTO DIBONDONE.Scutage (Latin, scutum;French, écuage;shield) Scu-
tage was a tax imposed on KNIGHTSinstead of personal
military service. In the Carolingian era, it was a fine paid
by those who reneged on or could not fulfill their mili-
tary duty. In the 12th century the tax was considered
another source of fiscal revenue for the Crown. HENRYII
of ENGLANDimposed scutage to pay his mercenary armies
on the continent and to make the Crown less dependent
on feudal service.
See also FEUDALISM AND THE FEUDAL SYSTEM;
FIEF; KNIGHTS AND KNIGHTHOOD; TAXATION, TAXES, AND
TRIBUTE.
Further reading:James F. Baldwin, The Scutage and
Knight Service in England(Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1897); Robert Bartlett, England under the Norman
and Angevin Kings, 1075–1225(Oxford: Clarendon Press,
2000).Scythia and Scythians In ancient and medieval geog-
raphy, Scythia was a vague region to the northeast of the
known world, north of the BLACKSEAand stretching east
into the steppe of Eurasia or Inner Asia, the homeland of
nomadic horse people. Known to the classical Mediter-
ranean world, the Scythians were a nomadic people who
spoke an Iranian language. The last Scythian stronghold,
in the CRIMEA, survived until about 275 C.E., when it was
destroyed by the GOTHS.
In the literature of the Middle Ages, the name Scythi-
ans was applied to ethnically unrelated nomadic federa-
tions, such as the Hungarians and MONGOLS. The
Scythians, though called “barbarians,” were known to the
medieval West as an ancient and prestigious people to
whom some Europeans tried to establish genealogical
links. The Byzantines used the name Scythians as a
generic term for any barbarian peoples north of the
empire, including Turks and the RUS ́. Scandinavian geog-
raphers claimed Scythia as the mythical homeland of the
Scandinavians.
See alsoGEOGRAPHY AND CARTOGRAPHY.
Further reading:C. Scott Littleton, From Scythia to
Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King
Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail
(New York: Garland, 1994); William Montgomery
McGovern, The Early Empires of Central Asia: A Study of
the Scythians and the Huns and the Part They Played in
World History, with Special Reference to the Chinese
Sources (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina
Press, 1939); Tamara Talbot Rice, The Scythians,2d ed.
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1958); Renate Rolle,
The World of the Scythians,trans. Gayna Walls (London:
B. T. Batsford, 1989); Ellen D. Reeder, ed., Scythian
Gold: Treasures from Ancient Ukraine(New York: Harry
Abrams, 1999).