Ælfric Bata () was a monk and a disciple of
Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham ( ang, Ælfrīc; la, Alfricus, Elphricus; ) 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 gen ...
at
Winchester 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 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 founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...
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 branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
to young students; and the ''Colloquia difficiliora'' ("more difficult colloquies"), dialogues or monologues in difficult Latin, evidently meant to be delivered as
declamations
Declamation (from the Latin: ''declamatio'') is an artistic form of public speaking. It is a dramatic oration designed to express through articulation, emphasis and gesture the full sense of the text being conveyed.
History
In Ancient Rome, decl ...
.
[ 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 Latin writers