The Bern Riddles, also known as Aenigmata Bernensia, Aenigmata Hexasticha or Riddles of Tullius, are a collection of 63 metrical Latin riddles, named after the location of their earliest surviving manuscript, which today is held in Bern (though probably produced in Bourges): the early eighth-century Codex Bernensis 611. [1] [2]
Although it has been suggested that they were composed in late antiquity, [3] most scholars consider that the Bern Riddles were inspired by the c. fourth-century collection of riddles attributed to Symphosius, [4] and date to around the seventh century.
The author of the Bern Riddles is not known but the book might have been written by "a Lombard familiar with Mediterranean flora and food"; [5] perhaps in the monastery of Bobbio. [6] According to Archer Taylor, "The Berne Riddles are especially interesting for the author's familiarity with the North Italian landscape and its plants. Whoever he was, we may safely call him the first medieval riddle-master in Italy". [7] However, some scholars see the origin of the Bern Riddles in Anglo-Saxon England, where several early medieval collections of metrical riddles originated, such as the Enigmata of Aldhelm. [8]
The subjects of the Bern Riddles are as follows: [9]
LI. De alio. | 51. Garlic. |
LII. De rosa. | 52. Rose. |
The riddles are written in Latin rhythmic hexameter.
The Bern Riddles come down to us in the following manuscripts: [8]
| Siglum | Name | Folios | Date | Number of Riddles | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | Cod. Bern 611 | 73-80v | 8th c. (early) | 33 | See manuscript here. Parts of this manuscripts are missing. |
| I | Cod. Berlin Philipps 167 | 37v-45 | 9th c. | 61 | |
| R | Cod. Leipzig Rep. I 74 | 15v-24 | 9th or 10th c. | 63 | See manuscript here. |
| W1 | Cod. Vienna 67 | 168v-170 | 12th c. | 62 | |
| W2 | Cod. Vienna 2285 | 206-12 | 14th c. | 62 | |
| Q | Cod. Paris Lat. 5596 | 165- | 8th or 9th c. | 9 | See manuscript here. |
| Q1 | Cod. Paris Lat. 8071 | no foliation | 9th c. (late) | 2 | See manuscript here. Sometimes referred to as Codex Thuaneus. |
| U4 | Cod. Vatican Reg. Lat. 1553 | 8v-21 (passim) | 9th c. (early) | 52 | See manuscript here. Mixed with riddles of Symphosius and Aldhelm. [10] |
| A | Chicago, Newberry MS f.11 | 12th c. (first half) | 62 | ||
| M | Cod. Vatican Barb. Lat. 1717 | 16th c. | 42 |
The best modern editions of the Bern Riddles are:
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De Dubiis Nominibus is a 7th-century document, possibly from Bordeaux, by an anonymous author. It is an alphabetically sorted list of words whose gender, plural form or spelling was in question by the author. The author attempted to resolve the questions through citations from classical and Christian authors with notes next to each word.
Tatwine was the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury from 731 to 734. Prior to becoming archbishop, he was a monk and abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Besides his ecclesiastical career, Tatwine was a writer, and riddles he composed survive. Another work he composed was on the grammar of the Latin language, which was aimed at advanced students of that language. He was subsequently considered a saint.
Apollonius of Tyre is the hero of a short ancient novel, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, all are thought to derive from an ancient Greek version now lost.
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Anglo-Saxon riddles are a significant genre of Anglo-Saxon literature. The riddle was a major, prestigious literary form in early medieval England, and riddles were written both in Latin and Old English verse. The pre-eminent composer of Latin riddles in early medieval England was Aldhelm, while the Old English verse riddles found in the tenth-century Exeter Book include some of the most famous Old English poems.
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The writing-riddle is an international riddle type, attested across Europe and Asia. Its most basic form was defined by Antti Aarne as 'white field, black seeds', where the field is a page and the seeds are letters. However, this form admits of variations very diverse in length and degree of detail. For example, a version from Astrakhan translates as "the enclosure is white, the sheep are black", while one from the Don Kalmyks appears as "a black dog runs on white snow", and literary riddlers especially have produced long variations on the theme, often overlapping with riddles on pens and other writing equipment.
The Enigmata Eusebii are a collection of sixty Latin, hexametrical riddles composed in early medieval England, probably in the eighth century.