Aelfric (flourished c. 955–c. 1025, probably Eynsham, Oxfordshire, Eng.) was an Anglo-Saxon prose writer, considered the greatest of his time. He wrote both to instruct the monks and to spread the learning of the 10th-century monastic revival. His Catholic Homilies, written in 990–992, provided orthodox sermons, based on the Church Fathers. Known as Grammaticus due to his authorship of a Latin grammar, he also wrote Lives of the Saints, Heptateuch (a vernacular language version of the first seven books of the Bible), as well as letters and various treatises.