Littera Hybrida
The text content of both Breviary volumes was touched on briefly in the previous section, but this content will now be analyzed more in depth. Though the red and blue initialing that appears frequently in both volumes is done in the littera duplex style, the actual Latin text, done in black ink, is written in a different style.
The majority of the text is written in a Dutch style of handwriting called littera hybrida. This form of handwriting is cursive, but it exclusively contains straight hastes rather than loops. This popular form of writing gradually came into use in the medieval Low Countries and supplanted the previously used textualis style. Altough the littera hybrida eventually rose to considerable popularity, it was rarely utilized within manuscript text; this makes these Dutch Breviaries even more unique in an archival context.
The popularized littera hybrida text was combined with the Aubergine decorative design in these volumes; both styles speak to the time period in which these Breviaries were made. The manuscript's heavy wooden bindings, worn spine, and bookmarked pages suggest that this book was used frequently for religious practice during the fourteenth century, which means that the text done in this intriguing medieval style would have been poured over and perused frequently over the centuries.
Source: “Littera Hybrida.” Littera hybrida - Scripts - Palaeography - Research & education - Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections - Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Accessed March 5, 2020. http://www.mmdc.nl/static/site/research_and_education/palaeography/palaeography_scripts/1158/Littera_hybrida.html.