What is "battel"

Battel \Bat"tel\, n. [Obs. form. of Battle.] (Old Eng. Law) A single combat; as, trial by battel. See Wager of battel, under Wager.

Battel \Bat"tel\, n. [Of uncertain etymology.] Provisions ordered from the buttery; also, the charges for them; -- only in the pl., except when used adjectively.

Battel \Bat"tel\, v. i. To be supplied with provisions from the buttery. [Univ. of Oxford, Eng.]

Battel \Bat"tel\, v. t. [Cf. Batful, Batten, v. i.] To make fertile. [Obs.] ``To battel barren land.''
--Ray.

Battel \Bat"tel\, a. Fertile; fruitful; productive. [Obs.]

A battel soil for grain, for pasture good.
--Fairfax.

Etymology 1 n. 1 (obsolete form of battle English) 2 (context UK legal obsolete English) A single combat. Etymology 2

1. (context obsolete English) fertile; fruitful; productive n. (context UK Oxford University mostly in the plural English) Provisions ordered from the buttery; also, the charges for them. v

2. 1 To make fertile. 2 (context UK Oxford University English) To be supplied with provisions from the buttery.

Battel, or Battels, is a term still used at the University of Oxford to refer to the food ordered by members of the college as distinct from the usual "commons". Hence it also referred to college accounts for board and provisions supplied from kitchen and buttery, and, generally, the whole of a person's college accounts. Though the distinction from commons is no longer relevant, the term persists as the name for members' termly bills at many colleges at the Universities of Oxford and Durham.

Batteler, later a resident in a college, was originally a rank of students between commoners and servitors who, as the name implies, were not supplied with "commons", but only such provisions as they ordered for themselves.

The inventory of Henry Thorlthorpe, a Vicar Choral of the church of Saint Peter in York — the Minster — who died in 1426, includes in the debts he has to pay battels of this sort. When he died in 1426 his probate inventory, in the Borthwick Institute of Historical Records at the University of York as translated by Philip Stell in Probate Inventories of the York Diocese (AY2/3, ISBN 1-874454-37-X), says "for batells that Henry owes to the community of parsons 2 pence".

Battel may refer to:

• " Battel", word used at the University of Oxford for the food ordered by members of the college
• Battel, a hamlet of Mechelen, historical part of the Lordship of Mechelen.
• Kaiju Big Battel, American performance entertainment troupe based in Boston