 The rune poem was presumably recorded on a single sheet of parchment which had not originally been part of the manuscript, and was possibly bound with a manuscript of Aelfric's "Lives of Saints" by Joscelyn.Consequently, the surviving fragments of the manuscript are of no use in determining the hand or the date of the destroyed folio of the poem.Based on a number of late West Saxon forms in the text, it can be assumed that the manuscript of the rune poem dated to the 10th or 11th century, based on earlier copies by Anglian or Kentish scribes.