Lexicon Browse - R

Reagent - A chemical used to make faded manuscripts more legible, often damaging the manuscript further.Recto - The front side of a folio.Red lead - A red pigment used in rubrication, initials and miniatures.Reed pen - see PenRenaissance - A French term meaning 'rebirth' and applied to a revival of the arts and learning stimulated by an interest in the past.Retting - The fermentation of pulp in paper manufacturing.Revetment - An English term for riza.Rinceaux - A form of ornament commonly used in borders during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It consists of a patterning of fine foliate branches.Ritual - A manual containing the prayers and formulae for the administration of all the sacraments (except the Eucharist), such as baptism and extreme unction.Riza - A Russian term for an icon cover, usually in metal, that hides most of the painted icon from view for the purpose of veneration and protection.Roll - A form of book in which the writing support is joined into a long, continuous piece, rolled up from either end.Roll (tooling) - A utensil used in binding to impress a design on leather, with a rotating wheel that produces a line or repeating pattern.Roman capitals - see MajusculeRoman numerals - The system of conveying numerical information, generally employed throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages, in which quantities are represented as Roman letters ...Romance - A genre of literature that developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in France.Romanesque - The term Romanesque was applied in the nineteenth century to Western architecture of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries because of its use of Roman principles of construction.Romanization - A special form of transcription with conversion of non-Latin linguistic character sets to a Latin-based alphabet system.Rotunda - The form of Textualis typical of the Mediterranean regions of Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, and southern France) in the later Middle Ages.Round R - see Script. Resembles a "2"Round S - see Script. Resembles modern "s"Roundel - A decoration in a round panel.Rubric - A heading or instruction in a manuscript that is not part of the main text; normally in red ink (hence the name).Rubrication - A treatment of the script with red ink or else script written in red ink to set off initials, headings, or instructions.Rubricator - A person responsible for supplying the rubrics within a manuscript.Ruling - A pattern of lines marked in dry point, lead, or ink on a manuscript page to guide the writing.Run-over symbol - A decorative device (abstract, foliate, zoomorphic, or anthropomorphic) which indicates that the text of a line has been carried over to occupy the remainder of the line above or below, a space that otherwise would have been left blank.Running title - The title (often abridged) at the head of a page.Rustic capitals (Rustica) - see Majuscule