Manuscript: The same as the one containing _Beowulf_. It was injured by a
fire in 1731. It had been printed by Thwaites in 1698 before the injury.
Authorship and date: The mixture of dialect forms seems to indicate that
a northern original passed through one or more hands and that at least
the last scribe belonged to the late West Saxon period. Cook thinks that
it is not earlier than about 825 nor later than 937, and that it is
possibly by Cynewulf.