Ælfric Bata

Ælfric Bata (the epithet 'Bata' is of uncertain meaning; the formerly accepted interpretation "the bat" has been rejected) (fl. 1005), was a monk and a disciple of Ælfric the abbot (called Grammaticus) at Winchester some time before 1005. From the Oxford MS of Ælfric's Colloquium (St John's College, Oxford 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 Ælfric Bata edited the whole collection. It has been supposed that some of the writings attributed to the master were the work of the disciple. Ælfric Bata's original writings are preserved in that Oxford MS: a set of conversations ("colloquies"), designed to teach communication skills in Latin to young students; and the Colloquia difficiliora ("more difficult colloquies"), dialogues or monologues in difficult Latin, evidently meant to be delivered as declamations.^[1]

Works

• Gwara, Scott; Porter, David W. (1997). Anglo-Saxon Conversations: The Colloquies of Ælfric Bata. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0851156996.

References

1.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Ælfric (fl.1005)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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