ASSER, OR ASSERIUS. JOHN ASSER, a native of minary of learning in Wales, St. David's, was a man of so uncommon an erudition for the age in which he lived, as to have been sent for from thence by Alfred the Great, to assist him in his studies. So much was this sovereign pleased with the manners and learning of Asser, that he resolved, if possible, to retain him near his person, an honourable though a delicate situation, which the attachment of Asser to the monastery of St. David's made him wish to decline, nor was it without much persuasion that he was at length prevailed upon to accept of it. Alfred was attached to learning, of a liberal and enlarged mind, Asser was learned and his mind congenial to that of his patron, communicating to him the learning and laws of his own country, he promoted these objects in the Saxon dominions. At the suggestion of Asser, who had himself been educated at a se Alfred founded the University of Oxford, and sent for John D'Erigena to read lectures there. From him also Alfred received Gildas's translation of the laws of Thoelmutius, and of Marcia, the wife of Guitelîne, and translated them into the Saxon tongue. From such a prince distinguished merit could not fail to receive a recompence suitable to the dignity of the giver. Asser had first the monastery of Amersbury in Wiltshire conferred upon him, and afterwards successively the bishopricks of Exeter and Sherburn. He died in the year 909. Of the works attributed to him, the Annals appear to be so, with the greatest probability. These have been published by Gale. The fame of Asser will not, however, rest on these Annals, it has a monument more worthy of it, the University of Oxford. D'ERIGENA. D'ERIGEN A. THE HE claim of Wales, as the birth-place of this celebrated character, has been opposed upon the ground of the word Scotus having been added to it, and that at a time when on the continent all who were not Saxons were probably called Scoti, as all the natives of Great Britain and Ireland are now indiscriminately called Englishmen. By the Welsh writers he is said to have been of St. David's; which is the more probable, as he was sent for at the instance of Asserius, also of the same monastery, to teach in Oxford. The place of his birth was, probably, Ergind on the borders of Wales. If it depended on a derivation merely, there would be no difficulty in finding several, easily reconcileable with the word Erigena. Such derivations prove nothing. D'Erigena having accomplished his course of studies at home, undertook an enterprise hazardous and bold for the ninth century. He determined to visit Athens, once the flourishing seat of arts and science, and still retaining some remains of her former celebrity. Upon his return so conspicuous were his abilities, that he was invited to France, by Charles the Bald. Here, equally admired for the extent of his learning and the liveliness of his wit, he became the favourite associate of his royal patron, and the object of envy and resentment to his courtiers. Upon the death of Charles he returned to England at the instance of King Alfred, and having been appointed to preside over his new University, gave lectures in geometry and astronomy, for three years; then, on the occasion of some disputes, he retired to Malmesbury, where again he gave lectures, and where his scholars are said to have assassinated him with their steel writing pens, about the year 884. The cause of their resentment is differently related. By some it is attributed to his severity, by others to his wit and raillery; and again, by others, to the instigation of the monks, irritated by something heterodox gena. heterodox in his opinions. There may be some truth in each of these accounts. When learning lends its force to wit, the sharp weapon is weighty as it is keen; and however playfully it be wielded, where it strikes the wound is irresistible. The satire which cannot be retorted is often severely retaliated; and such was the fate of EriIn the scholastic disputes of the times, he threw no small share of ridicule on his opponents, and displayed a dexterity in those distinctions, with which the subtlety of the Greek schools had overwhelmed religion and good sense. In France he had maintained, that St. Dennis was not Dionysius the Areopagite; and had denied the real presence in the sacrament. How then could he hope to be forgiven. Petavius has favoured him so far as only to say he was suspected of heresy, Baronius struck him out of the list of martyrs. He was, however, considered as a martyr, though it could not be easy to discover why. In his great work De Divisione Naturæ, he has shewn so astonishing a degree of information, of acuteness, and of metaphysicał subtlety, that it is not surprising he should have gained so eminent a degree of reputation in his own age, when so little comparatively was known. In deviating from a common opinion, he was sure of attracting censure and enmity. In assisting his own he provoked them. and was, at last, himself the victim. GIRALDUS GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. YLVESTER GIRALDUS usually known by the name of Cambrensis, grandson of the celebrated Gerald de Windsor who built Pembroke Castle, was born at Kanarpis, near Pembroke in South Wales, in 1145. His uncle, then Bishop of St. David's, perceiving an early turn for literature in the young Giraldus, bestowed great care upon his education, at home, and when his attainments there had qualified him for a further progress, sent him to Paris, to study theology under Peter Comestor. Having finished this course, and travelled over a great part of Europe, he returned to Paris, and read lectures there on the Belles Lettres and Rhetoric in the English College, of which he became the head. Returning to England with great reputation about the year 1172, he was invested by Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, with an extraordinary commission to collect neglected tithes and to reform abuses in Wales, which he executed with great credit to himself. In 1176, being nominated to the Bishoprick of St. David's, he with great modesty once declined it, and went more to Paris, where he spent three years in the study of the canon law. Being offered the professorship he declined it intending to go to Bologna in order to acquire a farther knowledge of this science, but was prevented by a proposal which he thought it preferable to accept of. His character now stood high in the literary world as a man of genius and learning, and distinguished worth, and deservedly so. So great was his fame, that Henry the Second sent for him and entrusted his son John to his care and instruction, with whom he was sent to Ireland. He appears, while there, to have been active and curious in his researches, and has given an useful and interesting memoir concerning that country. After his return he was made Archdeacon of St. David's and Brecon, and resided chiefly at the latter place. When Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, went into Wales, to levy men for a Crusade, Giraldus accompanied him through all Wales, and with the same spirit which actuated actuated him in Ireland, wrote made on account of the general "The |