Secretary hand

Secretary hand or script is a style of European handwriting developed in the early sixteenth century that remained common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for writing English, German, Welsh and Gaelic.

[1] Predominating before the dominance of Italic script, it arose out of the need for a hand more legible and universally recognizable than the book hand of the High Middle Ages, in order to cope with the increase in long-distance business and personal correspondence, in cities, chanceries and courts.

In spite of its loops and flourishes it was widely used by scriveners and others whose daily employment comprised hours of writing.

English ladies were often taught an "Italian hand", suitable for the occasional writing that they were expected to do.

[citation needed] Aside from palaeographers themselves, genealogists, social historians and scholars of Early Modern literature have become accustomed to reading secretary hand.