Aelfric Bata

Who is Aelfric Bata?

Ælfric, called Bata, was a monk and a disciple of Ælfric the abbot, called Grammaticus some time before 1005. From the Oxford MS. of Ælfric's Colloquium 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 Colloquy, it is likely that Ælfric Bata copied and edited the whole collection. It has been supposed that some of the writings attributed to the master were the work of the disciple. But the only ground on which this opinion rests is that it is impossible or unlikely that they should have been written by Ælfric, archbishop of Canterbury, thus there is no reason to accept it, for it was proven long ago that the archbishop and the grammarian were not the same person.