The gallows intrusion, the baseline jumps and multipass

[LisaFaginDavis]

As for the upward-angling lines, this is not at all uncommon in a manuscript without ruling lines.

Thanks for your comments, mostly snipped, but this raises a question for me. How common is it for medieval manuscripts to not have ruling lines? Most of the ones I look at (Biblical MSS) have them, but I don't really have a feel for other genres.

It depends on the date and type of manuscript. Before about 1200, it's rare to see ink or plummet ruling lines. If a manuscript written before ca 1200 has ruling lines at all, they're most likely to be blind-ruled, that is, impressed into the parchment with a tool. That kind of ruling won't necessarily show up in a digital image - sometimes you need raking light to see them. After around 1200, as we move into the Gothic period, ruling patterns become visible and complex, part of the aesthetic design of the page. But you do still see later manuscripts without ruling, like the VMS. Much also depends on the type of book. I'm not surprised that the VMS doesn't have ruling (and none is visible under raked light).