In Enigmate

This is a study of a single riddle as it is transmitted, translated, and transformed over more than a thousand years. Beginning with the influential late-antique riddle text Aenigmata Symphosii , In enigmate charts an arc through the extraordinary popularity of riddles in Anglo-Saxon England, their decline as a learned literary form after the Norman conquest, their emergence in early modern ballads, and beyond.  At the center of this study is the Creation riddle, perhaps the best-known ridd