A majuscule bookhand used as a main text script from the 4th-8th centuries, especially in high-grade Christian books, and thereafter as a display script and as litterae notabiliores. Uncial is distinguished by a curved, spacious form of M; an E shaped like a C with a hasta; a round, minuscule-style D with a tiny stem leaning to the left; and an A with a loop on its left leg in place of a cross-bar. Uncial is the script used for Italian luxury Bible manuscripts in the 6th-7th centuries, and for Insular Bible manuscripts made under Italian influence, as at the monasteries of Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria.