Asser

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Asser (d. 909). Bishop of Sherborne. Author of the Life of King Alfred, Asser was a Welshman who was a monk and priest at St David's in Dyfed until recruited by Alfred of Wessex in 885 to become one of a group of scholars at his court who assisted the king with his own studies and translations. His famous biography of Alfred was written by 893 and makes use of the recently completed Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Asser added to the work his own observations and discussions with the king and others at the court. It is a major source for the reign, but it must be remembered that the portrait of Alfred has been carefully modelled to fit 9th-cent. perceptions of a good Christian king. Asser lovingly records the many gifts he received from Alfred, and he may have been created a suffragan bishop based in Exeter before succeeding Wulfsige c.900 as bishop of Sherborne.

Barbara Yorke

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