A NEW MEDIEVAL TYPOGRAPHY MADE IN HONOR TO THE MC ANNIVERSAY OF THE KINGDOM OF LEON

The kingdom of Leon was the most important realm in the High Middle Ages in Spain, and was born in the year 910 AD when the Asturians kings moved their capital city from Oviedo to Leon. 

As this year is the MC anniversary of the kingdom, I have created a new medieval typography based on the documents of the royal chancery of Fernando II and Alfonso IX of Leon. In fact, I used the document number 1067 from the Leon's Cathedral Archive. It's a privilege granted by Fernando II in 1186 to all the clergy of the capital city of Leon. 

It was prepared by the Chancellor Petri Vele, who was also responsible for the royal chancery in the early years of the reign of Alfonso IX. That is, almost certainly he was also responsible for formulating the decree of the famous Cortes of 1188, considered to be the birth of the parliamentary system.

An original line of the document 1065 (above), and the same line written with the new typography (below)

This type of writting is a kind of late Caroline minuscule, bordering on early Gothic script. I gave it the name “Leonesa Cancilleresca” (“Leonese Chancery”), and I made two differents versions: the Leonesa Cancilleresca, that is very faithful to the original medieval writting, and the Leonesa Cancilleresca Modern, with a more modern form (smaller capitals and letters like l, b...)

You can download them free of charge here:
Leonesa Cancilleresca

Leonesa Cancillereca Modern

You can read a longer post about the creation of this typography here (in Spanish)