Asser joined several other noted scholars at Alfred's court, including Grimbald, and John the Old Saxon; all three probably reached Alfred's court within a year of each other. His first extended stay with Alfred was at the royal estate at Leonaford, probably from about April through December 886. It is not known where Leonaford was; a case has been made for Landford, in Wiltshire. Asser records that he read aloud to the king from the books at hand. On Christmas Eve, 886, after Asser had for some time failed to obtain permission to return to Wales, Alfred gave Asser the monasteries of Congresbury and Banwell, along with a silk cloak and a quantity of incense "weighing as much as a stout man." He allowed Asser to visit his new possessions and thence to return to St David's. Thereafter Asser seems to have divided his time between Wales and Alfred's court. Asser gives no information about his time in Wales, but mentions various places that he visited in England, including the battlefield at Ashdown, Cynuit (Countisbury), and Athelney. It is evident from Asser's account that he spent a good deal of time with Alfred: he recounts meeting Alfred's mother-in-law, Eadburh (who is not the same Eadburh who died as a beggar in Pavia), on many occasions; and says that he has often seen Alfred hunting. Sometime between 887 and 892, Alfred gave Asser the monastery of Exeter. Asser subsequently became Bishop of Sherborne, though the year of succession is unknown. Asser's predecessor as Bishop of Sherborne, Wulfsige, attested a charter in 892. Asser's first appearance in the position is in 900, when he appears as a witness to a charter; hence the succession can only be dated to the years 892 to 900. In any event, Asser had already been a bishop prior to his appointment to the see of Sherborne, since Wulfsige is known to have received a copy of Alfred's "Pastoral Care" in which Asser is described as a bishop. It is possible that Asser was a suffragan bishop within the see of Sherborne, but he may instead have been a bishop of St David's. He is listed as such in Giraldus Cambrensis's "Itinerarium Cambriae", although this may be unreliable as it was written three centuries later, in 1191.