Life
1564-1614; b. Dublin; Jesuit, ed. at Oxford; converted to Catholicism
and entered Jesuit novitiate at Tournai, c.1596; studied at Louvain and
Padua; rector of Irish College at Salamanca; d. Madrid; works include Introduction to the Art of Music (1584) and Janua Linguarum
(1611), a system for teaching languages. ODNB
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Criticism
W. B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition (IAP 1976;
1984), p.22 [infra].
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Commentary
W.
B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition (IAP 1976;
1984), notes ‘[I]t was was at Salamanca that the Dublin-born Jesuit
William Bathe published his celebrated Janua Linguarum (1611),
designed to provide a quick and easy method of learning Latin.’ Similar
to modern ‘direct method’, it was very popular and translated
into eleven languages including Greek, Czech, and Hungarian and was used
for a long period. (p.22.)
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References
Shorter ODNB does not attest that Bathe
was Irish.
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