Cancellaresca italica

Type specimen: Cancellaresca italica
Alphabet table in Cancellaresca italica
Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Leipzig

Cancellaresca italica

Cursive script for scholars and artists

Cancellaresca is the name of the handwritten, cursive lettering of the 14th and 15th centuries that was used in scriptoria and chanceries – including the Vatican chancery – for official documents. Under the influence of calligraphy, this cursive type spread throughout Europa and became a popular form of handwriting among scholars and artists. It hastened the demise of the Gothic script so popular in the Middle Ages.

The calligrapher Ludovico Vincentino degli Arrighi, who was also a scribe in the papal chancery as well as a printer and publisher, published numerous works between 1524 and 1527 whose type was based on his Cancellaresca. These works contributed significantly to the aesthetic refinement of the type first cast by the Venetian Aldus Manutius in 1501.