Asser (d. 908/909) was a Welshmonk who became Bishop of Sherborne during the 890s. It is not certain whether his birth name was "Gwyn" (or "Guinn"), which is Welsh for "blessed" (or "blessedness"), or "Asser" (or "Asher"), which is Hebrew for "blessed" and the name of Jacob's eighth son in the Bible. Hebrew names were often given to babies in Wales at the time, but it was also common to adopt a Biblical name when becoming a monk or priest, so the question remains open. Asser was a monk at St. David's in what was then the kingdom of Dyfed, but nothing is known of his earlier life.
He went to work for King Alfred the Great in Wessex, and part of his work was to help the king with the books he translated. In 893 Asser wrote his own Life of King Alfred that is the best source of information modern historians have about any early king in Britain. At some time between 892 and 900 Asser became Bishop of Sherborne -- he had already been a bishop, but whether he was Bishop of St. David's or a suffragan bishop of Sherborne while Wulfsige was its bishop is not clear, although Giraldus Cambrensis listed Asser as a bishop of St. David's in Itinerarium Cambriae, which he wrote in 1191.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, several scholars asserted that Asser's biography of King Alfred was not authentic but a forgery; at least one scholar claimed the forger was Bishop Leofric of Devon and Cornwall (became bishop 1046, died 1072). The bases for those assertions did not stand up to examination, and the Life is still acknowledged as authentic by all reputable authorities. It is readily available in various editions of books and on the Internet.
In 1998, Asser published a paper in the journal Pediatrics that evaluated the deaths of 172 children between 1975 and 1995 from families of 23 religious groups whose rituals dictated that healing must occur through prayer.
Asser studied the deaths of youngsters in an obscure religious congregation.
Asser combed through the group’s telephone directory and counted the people coming to a service at the Followers church, as he stood on the sidewalk receiving their hostile glares.
Tobias Michael Carel Asser (April 28, 1838-July 29, 1913) was born in Amsterdam into a family with a tradition in the field of law, both his father and his grandfather having been well-established lawyers and his uncle having served as the Dutch minister of justice.
Asser also presided over the conferences of 1900 and 1904, which resulted in several important treaties governing international family law, including matters relating to marriage, divorce, legal separation, and guardianship of minors.
Asser's contributions to the literature of law were a vital part of his efforts.
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