Q&A
Who was the Tremulous Hand of Worcester?
• SHORT ANSWER
A medieval scribe with a lot to say, but not the neatest handwriting
• LONG ANSWER
If you look at selected Old English manuscripts, such as the venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People from the eighth century, you’ll notice in the margins or between the lines of the beautifully scribed texts some notations. What’s more, they’ll look a little… shaky. That manuscript was ‘glossed’ by the Tremulous Hand, a 13th-century scribe at Worcester Cathedral Priory. While his true identity is unknown, his distinctive handwriting offers clues. He was certainly prolific, glossing some 50,000 times, and a pedant: changing punctuation, updating Old to Middle English and French, and just as capable to comment in Latin. The reason for his name was a neurological condition, which may have been an ‘essential tremor’ that worsened over his long career.