Asser

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Asser (also John Asser, Asserius Menevensis; † around 909) was a monk from the monastery of St. David's in the Kingdom of Dyfed in Wales and later Bishop of Sherborne .

Life

Little is known about Asser's life. He was born in Pembrokeshire , Wales and was educated and trained at St. David's Monastery in Menevia. In Alfred's Vita, written by him, a certain Nobis is mentioned as one of his relatives, who was Bishop of St. David's and died in 873/74. It is partly believed that Asser acted as his successor.

In any case, Asser was known for his erudition and was invited to his court around 885 by Alfred the Great , the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex . It took Asser half a year to decide to accept the invitation. In Winchester he fell ill and had to interrupt the trip for a year. As Alfred grew more and more impatient, Asser agreed to spend half of the year at court. When Asser left the court after eight months, Alfred presented him with the monasteries of Amesbury in Wiltshire and Banwell in Somersetshire . Around 890 he also received Exeter Monastery and between 892 and 900 he succeeded Wulfsige Bishop of Sherborne .

As the king's confidante, Asser was probably also involved in the Anglo-Saxon "renaissance" made possible by Alfred's learned court life. Asser died in 908 or 909. Swithelmus succeeded him as Bishop of Sherborne.

plant

Asser wrote a biography of Alfred from 849 to 887 in Latin around 893 ( Vita Alfredi ). This is based on Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni and represents the most important source for the time of Alfred the Great. The king is presented in a very favorable light, for example in relation to the defense of the Vikings . Despite the subjective coloring, the work contains important and largely reliable information on Alfred's life.

A manuscript from the 10th century of Asser's work (Cottonian manuscript: Otho A, XII), which was reprinted by Francis Wise in 1722, before the original was destroyed in a fire in 1731, has survived.

Doubts about the authenticity of the biography, as expressed by Alfred P. Smyth, who suspects a later forgery, are not tenable (cf. the rejection by Richard Abels, among others). Smyth's very controversial reinterpretation has not been able to prevail in research.

translation

  • Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources . Penguin Classics, London a. a. 1983 (several NDe).
  • Alfred P. Smyth: The medieval life of King Alfred the Great: a translation and commentary on the text attributed to Asser . Basingstoke 2002

literature

  • Richard Abels: Alfred the Great. War, kingship and culture in Anglo-Saxon England. London 1998.
  • James Campbell: Asser's Life of Alfred. In: C. Holdsworth, TP Wiseman (Ed.): The Inheritance of Historiography, 350-900. Exeter 1986, pp. 115-135.
  • William Smith: Asser . In: Graeme Dunphy (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle . tape 1 . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2010, ISBN 978-90-04-18464-0 , pp. 119 (English).
  • Alfred P. Smyth: King Alfred the Great. Oxford 1996. [very controversial account; Smyth's reinterpretation of Asser's biography did not catch on]

Web links

Wiktionary: Asser  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
  • Asser: Vita Alfredi ; The Life of King Alfred Online (English) at Online Medieval and Classical Library

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the few facts, see Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources . London u. a. 1983, p. 49ff.
  2. ↑ Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources . London u. a. 1983, p. 49.
  3. ↑ Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources . London u. a. 1983, p. 53.
  4. ↑ Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources. London u. a. 1983 (annotated translation with further materials); Online ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) at Online Medieval and Classical Library @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / omacl.org
  5. ↑ On the criticism, cf. for example Simon Keynes: On the Authenticity of Asser's Life of King Alfred . In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 47, 1996, p. 529ff.
predecessor Office successor
Wulfsige I. Bishop of Sherborne
875 - 879 or 895 to about 909 		Æthelweard
personal data
SURNAME Asser
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John Asser, Asserius Menevensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh monk, Bishop of Sherborne
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Pembrokeshire, Wales
DATE OF DEATH 908 or 909