Ælfric Bata () was a monk and a disciple of

Ælfric of Eynsham Ælfric of Eynsham (; ; ) was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as '' ...

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

some time before 1005. The epithet ''Bata'' is unclear; the formerly accepted interpretation "the bat" has been rejected, and Tengvik suggests it means 'stout'. From the Oxford MS of Ælfric of Eynsham's ''Colloquium'' (

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

154) it appears that Ælfric Bata added something to this work composed by his master, and, as the ''Grammar and Glossary'' of Grammaticus are combined in that manuscript with the ''Colloquium'', it is likely that Bata edited the whole collection. It has been supposed that some of the writings attributed to the master were the work of the disciple. Bata's original writings are preserved in that Oxford MS: a set of conversations ("colloquies"), designed to teach communication skills in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

to young students; and the ''Colloquia difficiliora'' ("more difficult colloquies"), dialogues or monologues in difficult Latin, evidently meant to be delivered as declamations. For his colloquies, Bata made use of the seminal collection '' De raris fabulis''. He is described by Tracey-Anne Cooper as "the Canterbury schoolmaster and colloquist".

Editions

Aelfrici Colloquium
in ''Analecta Anglo-saxonica: Selections, in Prose and Verse, from the Anglo-Saxon Literature, with an Introductory Ethnological Essay, and Notes, Critical and Explanatory by Louis F. Klipstein, Volume I'' (New York: Putnam, 1849), pp. 195-214 *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfric Bata Anglo-Saxon writers 9th-century English writers 10th-century English writers 10th-century writers in Latin