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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 german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
(though probably produced in
Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...
): the early eighth-century Codex Bernensis 611.


Origin

Although it has been suggested that they were composed in late antiquity, most scholars consider that the Bern Riddles were inspired by the c. fourth-century collection of riddles attributed to Symphosius, and date to around the seventh century. The author of the Bern Riddles is not known but they might have been written by "a Lombard familiar with Mediterranean flora and food"; perhaps in the monastery of Bobbio. 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".Archer Taylor, ''The Literary Riddle before 1600'' (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), p. 59. However, some scholars see the origin of the Bern Riddles in
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
England, where several early medieval collections of metrical riddles originated, such as the ''Enigmata'' of
Aldhelm Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), 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 so ...
.


Subjects

The subjects of the Bern Riddles are as follows: 1. de olla/bowl; 2. de lucerna/lamp; 3. de sale/salt; 4. de scamno/bench; 5. de mansa/table; 6. de calice/(glass) chalice; 7. de uesica/air-bubble; 8. de ouo/egg; 9. de mola/millstone; 10. de scala/ladder; 11. de naue/ship; 12. de grano/grain of corn; 13. de uite/grapevine; 14. de oliua/olive; 15. de palma/palm-tree; 16. de cedride/cedar-berry; 17. de cribro/sieve; 18. de scopa/broom; 19. de cera/wax tablet; 20. de melle/honey; 21. de ape/bee; 22. de oue/sheep; 23. de ignis scintilla/fire-spark; 24. de membrana/parchment; 25. de litteris/letters; 26. de sinapi/mustard; 27. de papiro/(papyrus)-paper; 28. de serico/silkworm; 29. de speculo/mirror; 30. de pisce/fish; 31. de nympha/siphon; 32. de spongia/sponge; 33. de uiola/violet; 34. de rosa/rose; 35. de liliis/lilies; 36. de croco/saffron; 37. de pipere/pepper; 38. de glacie/ice; 39. de hedera/ivy; 40. de muscipula/mousetrap; 41. de uento/wind; 42. de glacie/ice; 43. /silkworms; 44. de margarita/pearl; 45. de terra/earth; 46. de pistillo/pestle; 47. de cochlea/snail-shell; 48. de castanea/chestnut; 49. de pluuia/rain; 50. de uino/wine; 50a. de charta/ ood-pulppaper; 51. de alio/garlic; 52. de rosa/rose; 53. de trutina/weighing-scales; 54. de insubulo/weaving-loom; 55. de sole/sun; 56. de sole/sun; 57. de sole/sun; 58. de luna/moon; 59. de luna/moon; 60. de caelo/sky; 61. de umbra/shadow; 62. de stellis/stars; 63. de uino/wine.'Aenigmata in Dei nomine Tullii ''seu'' aenigmata quaestionum artis rhetoricae enigmata "bernensia", ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Karl J. Minst, in ''Tatuini omnia opera, Variae collectiones aenigmatum merovingicae aetatis, Anonymus de dubiis nominibus'', Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133-133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968)
II
541-610.


Examples

For information about the metre of the riddles, see Latin rhythmic hexameter.


Manuscripts

The Bern Riddles come down to us in the following manuscripts:


Editions and translations

The best modern editions of the Bern Riddles are: * 'Aenigmata in Dei nomine Tullii ''seu'' aenigmata quaestionum artis rhetoricae enigmata "bernensia", ed. by Fr. Glorie, trans. by Karl J. Minst, in , Corpus christianorum: series latina, 133-133a, 2 vols (Turnholt: Brepols, 1968)
II
541–610. * Strecker, Karl (ed). “Aenigmata Hexasticha.” MGH: ''Poetae Latini aevi Carolingi,'' Vol. 4.2; Berlin, 1914. pp. 732-759. *
The Bern Riddles
', in
The Riddle Ages: Old English Riddles, Translations and Commentaries
', ed. by Megan Cavell and Neville Mogford, with Matthias Ammon and Victoria Symons (2013-). An edition and English translation of the Bern Riddles begun in 2020.


References


Further reading

* Neville Mogford, 'The Moon and Stars in the Bern and Eusebius Riddles', in ''Riddles at Work in the Early Medieval Tradition: Words, Ideas, Interactions'', ed. by Megan Cavell and Jennifer Neville (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020), pp. 230–46 , {{doi, 10.7765/9781526133724.00028. Riddles Medieval Latin texts