Introduction, Section II, Asser and his Life of King Alfred Summary and Analysis

Asser's Life of King Alfred is the first biography of an Anglo-Saxon king that historians know of, but we know little about Asser. He was Welsh from St. David's in the kingdom of Dyfed. His name is actually Hebrew, following the eighth son of Jacob. Some contemporary sources have a few references to Asser's activities in Wessex. Alfred describes him as his bishop who helped him translate Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care. Historians know that he was the bishop of Sherborne and he appears to have been a witness to several charters. He became bishop somewhere between 892 and 900 and died in 909.

Assert gives some biographical details about himself in his Life of King Alfred, although one historian theorized that the biography was written by...