Only specialists could decode the then-standard Gothic script style, because only specialists needed to do so.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Then, as the Renaissance movement began to take root in Europe, Continental Humanist writers began to revive Carolingian lettering, a form of script predating the Gothic style.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Carolingian script -- being much simpler, cleaner and easier to read than Gothic -- suited the Continental Humanists' purposes, and was popular enough to become the next step in the evolution of English writing.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS