He was born in Bern, descended of an old Bernese family and, as far as can be ascertained, took clerical orders and became a monk; yet as it appears that he subsequently married, it is certain that he received the tonsure only, and was thus entitled to the benefit of the clerici uxoriati, who, on divesting themselves of the clerical garb, could return to secular life.
[1] He wrote, in Middle High German, a collection of fables entitled Der Edelstein ('The Jewel') (c. 1349), one hundred in number, which were based principally on those of Avianus (4th century) and the Anonymus Neveleti (edited by Isaac Nicolas Nevelet, 1610).
He dedicated this work to the Bernese patrician and poet, Johann von Ringgenberg [de], advocatus (Vogt) of Brienz (d. c. 1350).
[1][2] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Boner treats his sources with considerable freedom and originality; he writes a clear and simple style, and the necessarily didactic tone of the collection is relieved by touches of humour.
See also GE Lessing in Zur Geschichte und Literatur (Werke, ix.