The Epistola ad Acircium, sive Liber de septenario, et de metris, aenigmatibus ac pedum regulis ('letter to Acircius, or the book on sevens, and on metres, riddles, and the regulation of poetic feet') is a Latin treatise by the West-Saxon scholar Aldhelm (d. 709). It is dedicated to one Acircius, understood to be King Aldfrith of Northumbria (r. 685-704/5). It was a seminal text in the development of riddles as a literary form in medieval England.
Aldhelm records that his riddles, which appear in this collection, were composed early in his career "as scholarly illustrations of the principles of Latin versification"; they may have been the work where he established his poetic skill in Latin. [1] Aldhelm's chief source was Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae.[ citation needed ]
The treatise opens with a verse praefatio ("preface") addressing 'Acircius', which is remarkably contrived, incorporating both an acrostic and a telestich: the first letters of each line in the left-hand margin spell out a phrase which is paralleled by the same letters on the right-hand margin of the poem, forming a double acrostic. This 36-line message reads "Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas" ("Aldhelm composed a thousand lines in verse"). [2] [3]
After the preface, the letter consists of three treatises:
The Epistola is best known today for including one hundred hexametrical riddles, which Aldhelm included for purposes of illustration of metrical principles. Among the more famous are the riddle entitled Lorica , and the last and longest riddle, Creatura. [4]
Aldhelm's model was the collection known as Symposii Aenigmata ("The Riddles of Symphosius"), [5] and many of his riddles were directly inspired by Symphosius's. But overall, Aldhelm's collection is quite different in tone and purpose: as well as being an exposition of Latin poetic metres, diction, and techniques, it seems to be intended as an exploration of the wonders of God's creation. [6] The riddles generally become more metrically and linguistically complex as the collection proceeds. The first eight riddles deal with cosmology. Riddles 9-82 are more heterogeneous, covering a wide variety of animals, plants, artefacts, materials and phenomena, but can be seen to establish purposeful contrasts (for example between the light of a candle in Enigma 52 and that of the Great Bear in 53) or sequences (for example the animals of Enigmata 34-39: locust, screech-owl, midge, crab, pond-skater, lion). Riddles 81-99 seem all to concern monsters and wonders. Finally, the long hundredth riddle is "Creatura", the whole of Creation. [7] The Latin enigmata of Aldhelm and his Anglo-Latin successor are presented in manuscripts with their solutions as their title, and seldom close with a challenge to the reader to guess their solution. [1]
An example of an enigma by Aldhelm is his Elleborus, by which word Aldhelm understood not the hellebore, but woody nightshade. [8] It is number 98 in his collection:
| Latin original | Literal translation | Literary translation |
|---|---|---|
Ostriger en arvo vernabam frondibus hirtis Conquilio similis: sic cocci murice rubro Purpureus stillat sanguis de palmite guttis. Exuvias vitae mandenti tollere nolo Mitia nec penitus spoliabunt mente venena; Sed tamen insanum vexat dementia cordis Dum rotat in giro vecors vertigine membra. [9] |
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The subjects of Aldhelm's riddles are as follows. [12]
| number | title (Latin) | title (English translation) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | terra | earth |
| 2 | ventus | wind |
| 3 | nubes | cloud |
| 4 | natura | nature |
| 5 | iris | rainbow |
| 6 | luna | moon |
| 7 | fatum | fate |
| 8 | Pliades | Pleiades |
| 9 | adamas | diamond |
| 10 | molosus | mastiff |
| 11 | poalum | bellows |
| 12 | bombix | silkworm |
| 13 | barbita | organ |
| 14 | pavo | peacock |
| 15 | salamandra | salamander |
| 16 | luligo | flying fish |
| 17 | perna | bivalve mollusc (pinna nobilis) |
| 18 | myrmicoleon | ant-lion |
| 19 | salis | salt |
| 20 | apis | bee |
| 21 | lima | file |
| 22 | acalantida | nightingale |
| 23 | trutina | scales |
| 24 | dracontia | dragon-stone |
| 25 | magnes ferrifer | lodestone |
| 26 | gallus | rooster |
| 27 | coticula | whetstone |
| 28 | Minotaurus | Minotaur |
| 29 | aqua | water |
| 30 | elementum | alphabet |
| 31 | ciconia | stork |
| 32 | pugillares | writing tablets |
| 33 | lorica | armour |
| 34 | locusta | locust |
| 35 | nycticorax | night-raven |
| 36 | scnifes | midge |
| 37 | cancer | crab |
| 38 | tippula | pond strider |
| 39 | leo | lion |
| 40 | piper | pepper |
| 41 | pulvillus | pillow |
| 42 | strutio | ostrich |
| 43 | sanguisuga | leech |
| 44 | ignis | fire |
| 45 | fusum | spindle |
| 46 | urtica | nettle |
| 47 | hirundo | swallow |
| 48 | vertico poli | sphere of the heavens |
| 49 | lebes | cauldron |
| 50 | myrifyllon | milfoil (yarrow) |
| 51 | eliotropus | heliotrope |
| 52 | candela | |
| 53 | Arcturus | Arcturus |
| 54 | cocuma duplex | double boiler |
| 55 | crismal | chrismal |
| 56 | castor | beaver |
| 57 | aquila | eagle |
| 58 | vesper sidus | evening star |
| 59 | penna | pen |
| 60 | monocerus | unicorn |
| 61 | pugio | dagger |
| 62 | famfaluca | bubble |
| 63 | corbus | raven |
| 64 | columba | dove |
| 65 | muriceps | mouser |
| 66 | mola | mill |
| 67 | cribellus | sieve |
| 68 | salpix | trumpet |
| 69 | taxus | yew |
| 70 | tortella | loaf of bread |
| 71 | piscis | fish |
| 72 | colosus | colossus |
| 73 | fons | spring |
| 74 | fundibalum | sling |
| 75 | crabro | hornet |
| 76 | melarius | apple tree |
| 77 | ficulnea | fig tree |
| 78 | cupa vinaria | wine cask |
| 79 | sol et luna | sun and moon |
| 80 | calix vitreus | glass cup |
| 81 | Lucifer | morning star |
| 82 | mustela | weasel |
| 83 | iuvencus | steer |
| 84 | scrofa praegnans | pregnant sow |
| 85 | caecus natus | man born blind |
| 86 | aries | ram |
| 87 | clipeus | shield |
| 88 | basiliscus | serpent |
| 89 | arca libraria | bookcase |
| 90 | puerpera geminas enixa | woman bearing twins |
| 91 | palma | palm |
| 92 | farus editissima | tall lighthouse |
| 93 | scintilla | spark |
| 94 | ebulus | dwarf elder |
| 95 | Scilla | Scylla |
| 96 | elefans | elephant |
| 97 | nox | night |
| 98 | elleborus | hellebore |
| 99 | camellus | camel |
| 100 | Creatura | Creation |
Aldhelm's riddles were almost certainly the key inspiration for the forty riddles of Tatwine, an early eighth-century Mercian priest and Archbishop of Canterbury, along with the probably slightly later riddles of Eusebius and of Boniface. [13] [14] [15] Two appear in Old English translation in the tenth-century Old English Exeter Book riddles, and Aldhelm's riddles in general may have been an inspiration for that collection. [16]
Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex. He was certainly not, as his early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine. After his death he was venerated as a saint, his feast day being the day of his death, 25 May.
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.
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.
Hwætberht was abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory, where he had served as a monk.
Symphosius was the author of the Aenigmata, an influential collection of 100 Latin riddles, probably from the late antique period. They have been transmitted along with their solutions.
Michael Lapidge, FBA is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and winner of the 2009 Sir Israel Gollancz Prize.
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.
Andrew Philip McDowell Orchard, is a British academic of Old English, Norse and Celtic literature. He is Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. He was previously Provost of Trinity College, Toronto, from 2007 to 2013. In 2021, claims of sexual harassment and assault by Orchard were publicized, which were alleged at universities where he has worked, including the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto.
The hermeneutic style is a style of Latin in the later Roman and early Medieval periods characterised by the extensive use of unusual and arcane words, especially derived from Greek. The style is first found in the work of Apuleius in the second century, and then in several late Roman writers. In the early medieval period, some leading Continental scholars were exponents, including Johannes Scotus Eriugena and Odo of Cluny.
The "Leiden Riddle" is an Old English riddle. It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest attested pieces of English poetry; one of only a small number of representatives of the Northumbrian dialect of Old English; one of only a relatively small number of Old English poems to survive in multiple manuscripts; and evidence for the translation of the Latin poetry of Aldhelm into Old English.
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 : the early eighth-century Codex Bernensis 611.
The Lorsch riddles, also known as the Aenigmata Anglica, are a collection of twelve hexametrical, early medieval Latin riddles that were anonymously written in the ninth century.
Exeter Book Riddles 68 and 69 are two of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Their interpretation has occasioned a range of scholarly investigations, but clearly has something to do with ice and one or both of the riddles are likely indeed to have the solution 'ice'.
Exeter Book Riddle 60 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. The riddle is usually solved as 'reed pen', although such pens were not in use in Anglo-Saxon times, rather being Roman technology; but it can also be understood as 'reed pipe'.
De creatura is an 83-line Latin polystichic poem by the seventh- to eighth-century Anglo-Saxon poet Aldhelm and an important text among Anglo-Saxon riddles. The poem seeks to express the wondrous diversity of creation, usually by drawing vivid contrasts between different natural phenomena, one of which is usually physically higher and more magnificent, and one of which is usually physically lower and more mundane.
The Exeter Book riddles are a fragmentary collection of verse riddles in Old English found in the later tenth-century anthology of Old English poetry known as the Exeter Book. Today standing at around ninety-four, the Exeter Book riddles account for almost all the riddles attested in Old English, and a major component of the otherwise mostly Latin corpus of riddles from early medieval England.
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.
The Liber epigrammatum is a collection of Latin epigrammatic poems composed by the Northumbrian monk Bede. The modern title comes from a list of his works at the end of his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (V.24.2): "librum epigrammatum heroico metro siue elegiaco".
The Carmen Rhythmicum is a 7th-8th century poem written in Latin by Aldhelm. It is the earliest example of the verse form continuous octosyllables, of which he may have been the inventor, and the earliest surviving reference to Cornwall.
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