United States or Pakistan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The life of Ælfred which bears the name of Asser, puzzling as it is in some ways, is probably really Asser's work, and certainly of contemporary authority. The Latin rendering of the English Chronicle which bears the name of Æthelweard adds a little to our acquaintance with this time.
The king was active in craft work himself, for Asser tells us that he "continued, during his frequent wars, to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds." The quaint old encyclopædia of Bartholomew Anglicus, called, "The Properties of Things," defines gold and silver in an original way, according to the beliefs of this writer's day.
They argue with the German play-wright: "Mahomet verbot den Wein, doch vom Champagner sprach er nicht." From the Frenchman at the hotel, whose knowledge of Morocco was "extensive and peculiar," I acquired much of my information on the manners and customs of the people. Watches are only worn and looked at for amusement. Meals are taken at Dah el Aly, El Asser, and El Moghreb.
His teachers were chiefly learned men drawn from the continent, especially from the Franks, and were well paid by the king. He made the scholarly Asser a Welsh monk, afterwards bishop of Sherborne, from whose biography of Alfred our best information is derived his counsellor and friend, and from his instructions acquired much knowledge.
With a view to expedite this object, and strictly to bear upon the topic in author-fashion, it has come into my thought how much we want a LIFE OF ALFRED: my little reading knows of none, beyond what dictionaries have gathered from popular history and vague tradition, rather than manuscripts of old time, and Asser, the original biographer.
They add to the dignity of the country. The honor is well-deserved, for Holland may fairly be called the fountainhead of modern international law, and has produced many of its best expounders, from Grotius and Bynkershoek to Asser. Moreover, as a side consideration, these meetings bring a multitude of visitors to the country, some famous and many profitable, and this is not bad for business.
Thus all vestiges of the old British Church of Cumbria had entirely disappeared before 1150. The old British Church in Cornwall and Devon came to an end in this way. In 884 King Alfred formed in Devonshire a West-Saxon see, and made Asser the Saxon Bishop. Cornwall was made to undergo several changes, and at last, in 1050, was merged in the see of Exeter.
"As we were one day sitting in the royal chamber," says Asser, "and were conversing as was our wont, it chanced that I read him a passage out of a certain book.
W. of Sandford and Banwell station, was once the site of a Saxon monastery, bestowed by Alfred upon Asser, and is now famous for its church and caves. The church has a tower with triple belfry windows, which is lofty and finished with pinnacles and spirelet. It should be compared with Winscombe, both being spoilt by the flatness of the buttresses.
Asser was a bishop in Wales when Alfred first heard of his fame as a man of learning and abilities, and Alfred sent for him to come to his court and make him a visit.
Word Of The Day