In the course of time, Alfred placed him at the head of some of the most important establishments and ecclesiastical charges in England.
One day--it was eight or nine years after Alfred's victory over Guthrum and settlement of the kingdom--the king and Asser were engaged in conversation in the royal apartments, and Asser quoted some Latin phrase with which, on its being explained, Alfred was very much pleased, and he asked Asser to write it down for him in his book.

So saying, he took from his pocket a little book of prayers and other pieces of devotion, which he was accustomed to carry with him for daily use.

It was, of course, in manuscript.

Asser looked over it to find a space where he could write the Latin quotation, but there was no convenient vacancy.

He then proposed to Alfred that he should make for him another small book, expressly for Latin quotations, with explanations of their meaning, if Alfred chose to make them, in the Anglo-Saxon tongue.