The Anglo-Saxon runes (also Anglo-Frisian), also known as futhorc (or fuþorc), is a runic alphabet, extended from the Elder Futhark from 24 to between 26 and 33 characters. They were used probably from the 5th century onward, recording Old English and Old Frisian.They remained in use in Anglo-Saxon England throughout the 6th to 10th centuries, although runic script became increasingly confined to manuscript tradition as a topic of antiquarian interest after the 9th century, and it disappeared even as a learned curiosity soon after the Norman conquest.