Form of script in which most letters are written in lower case (like this text). Latin minuscule script was developed in the scribal schools of the court of Charlemagne (ca. 800). Byzantine Greek minuscules came somewhat later. Among almost 3000 NT minuscules, only a few copies of the gospels are earlier than the 10th c. (notably: 33, 565, 566, 892, 1295). Most of the mss. used as the basis for the classic Greek Orthodox NT (sometimes called the "majority Byzantine text") are minuscules from the 2nd Christian millennium and few of these are complete. In fact, none of these mss. is exactly identical with printed versions of the NT. Erasmus collated six minuscules that he found in the library at the University of Basel in composing the textus receptus, the earliest printed Greek NT. Later critical editions are based primarily on earlier uncials.

Other On-line Resources:

• Tables of Minuscules - Robert B. Waltz provides tables to compare contents & textual critics' assessment of more than 2100 Greek minuscules (for professional scholars & advanced students).