The revision of the work contained in the manuscript held at Corpus Christi, Cambridge (used by most modern translations) can be dated between 1224 and 1235. The date of the first writing of the work is more controversial, and 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.