BONER, ULRICH

flourished 1324, 49 Latin Ulrich Bonerius Swiss writer and Dominican monk, whose collection of fables in verse was the first book to be printed in the German language (Bamberg, 1461). Boner, known to have been of a Bernese family, is mentioned in records between 1324 and 1349. He compiled and translated his collection of fables for Johann von Ringgenberg, his Bernese patron. The form that Boner used was referred to as bschaft or bspel (examples), and each of the tales includes a moral. Written in Middle High German, the collection was probably completed in about 1350. The fables were entitled Der Edelstein (The Precious Stone), because precious stones were said to cast a spell and Boner hoped that his tales would do the same. Although he named only two of his sourcesAesop's Fables and the fables of Flavius Avianus (a 4th-century Latin writer)it is clear that he also drew on other material. Many manuscripts of the collection existed, and further evidence of its popularity can be noted in its having been chosen as one of the first manuscripts to be printed.