The precise origin and date of the Bern riddles remain uncertain, yet substantial evidence suggests that the anonymous collection was composed in Lombard northern Italy around the turn of the seventh to the eighth century AD. These six-line hexametric riddles were probably used as instructional texts for Latin teaching and survive in over a dozen medieval manuscripts, often transmitted alongside other riddle poems, including the widely circulated Anglo-Latin Enigmata of Aldhelm of Malmesbury (d. 709/10). Although scholars have long observed thematic and verbal parallels between the Bern riddles and Aldhelm’s Enigmata, the question of a possible influence between the two collections has so far remained unresolved. Drawing on evidence from the earliest codices and from the broader Latin enigmatographic tradition, this article argues that the Bern riddles were composed under the influence of—and therefore post-date—Aldhelm’s authoritative Enigmata. The collection, while reflecting the secular Latin literary culture of Romanised Lombard Italy, thus provides another example of how Aldhelm not only inspired his English followers but also helped shape the early medieval riddle tradition beyond British shores.
Dieter Bitterli (Mon,) studied this question.