Herefordshire, and that the author was an Augustinian canon at nearby Wigmore Abbey in Herefordshire named Brian of Lingen. Bella Millett has subsequently argued that the author was in fact a Dominican rather than an Augustinian. The revision of the work contained in the manuscript held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (used by most modern translations) can be dated between 1224 and 1235. The date of the first writing of the work tends to depend upon one's view of the influence of the pastoral reforms of the 1215 Fourth Lateran Council. Shepherd believes that the work does not show such influence, and thinks a date shortly after 1200 most likely. Dobson argues for a date between 1215 and 1221, after the council and before the coming of the Dominicans to England. The general contours of this account have found favour in modern textbook assessments of the text. Language and textual criticism The version of Ancrene Wisse contained in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is known as MS 402. It was written in an early Middle English dialect known as 'AB language' where 'A' denotes the manuscript Corpus Christi 402, and 'B' the manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 34. Manuscript Bodley 34 contains a set of texts that have become known as the "Katherine Group": Seinte Katerine, Seinte Margarete, Seinte Iuliene, Hali Meiðhad and Sawles Warde. Both manuscripts were written in the AB language, described by J. R. R. Tolkien as "a faithful transcript of some dialect...or a 'standard' language based on one' in use in the West Midlands in the 13th century." The word Ancrene itself still exhibits a feminine plural genitive inflection descended from the old Germanic weak noun declension; this was practically unknown by the time of Chaucer. The didactic and devotional material is supplemented by illustrations and anecdotes, many drawn from everyday life. Ancrene Wisse is often grouped by scholars alongside the Katherine Group and the Wooing Group—both collections of early Middle English religious texts written in AB language. Surviving manuscripts There are seventeen surviving medieval manuscripts containing all or part of Ancrene Wisse. Of these, nine are in the original Middle English, four are translations into Anglo-Norman, and a further four are translations into Latin. The shortest extract is the Lanhydrock Fragment, which consists of only one sheet of parchment. The extant manuscripts are listed below. Although none of the manuscripts is believed