Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

'' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools'').

Biography

Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually entered the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universitie ...

in 1475, initially studying philosophy and then transferring to the school of law. From 1484 he began teaching at the university and completed his doctorate in law in 1489. In 1485 he had married Elisabeth Bürg, the daughter of a cutler in the town. Elisabeth bore him seven children. Keen for his eldest son Onophrius to become a humanist, he taught him Latin in the cradle and enrolled him in the university at the age of seven. Brant first attracted attention in humanistic circles by his Neo-Latin poetry but, realising that this gave him only a limited audience, he began translating his own work and the Latin poems of others into German, publishing them through the press of his friend

Johann Bergmann Sidney Bergmann (born 1905, date of death unknown) was an Austrian wrestler. He competed in the Greco-Roman lightweight event at the 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Game ...

, from which appeared his best known German work, the satirical '' Das Narrenschiff'' (Ship of Fools, 1494), the popularity and influence of which were not limited to Germany. In this allegory, the author lashes the weaknesses and vices of his time. It is an episodic work in which a ship laden with and steered by fools goes to the fools' paradise of Narragonia. Here he conceives Saint Grobian, whom he imagines to be the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...

of vulgar and coarse people. Most of Brant's important writing, including many works on civil and canon law, were written while he was living in Basel. He returned to Strasbourg in 1500, where he was made

syndic Syndic (Late Latin: '; Greek: ' – one who helps in a court of justice, an advocate, representative) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a universi ...

and remained for the rest of his life. In 1503 he secured the influential position of chancellor (''stadtschreiber'') and his engagement in public affairs prevented him from pursuing literature further. Brant made several petitions to the Emperor Maximilian to drive back the Turks in order to save the West. In the same spirit, he had sung the praises of Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1492 for having conquered the Moors and unified Spain. A staunch proponent of German cultural nationalism, he believed that moral reform was necessary for the security of the Empire against the Ottoman threat. Although essentially conservative in his religious views, Brant's eyes were open to abuses in the church, as the ''Narrenschiff'' demonstrates. Alexander Barclay's ''Ship of Fools'' (1509) is a free imitation into early

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began with t ...

English of the German poem, and a Latin version by Jakob Locher (1497) was hardly less popular than the original. ''Cock Lorell's Bote'' (printed by Wynkyn de Worde, c. 1510) was a shorter imitation of the ''Narrenschiff''. In this work Cock Lorell, a notorious fraudulent

tinker Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils. Description ''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Roman ...

of the period, gathers round him a rascally collection of tradesmen and sets off to sail through

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

.1843 reprint
/ref> Among Brant's many other works was his compilation of fables and other popular stories, published in 1501 under the title ''Aesopi Appologi sive Mythologi cum quibusdam Carminum et Fabularum additionibus'', the beauty of whose production is still appreciated. Though based on

Heinrich Steinhöwel Heinrich Steinhöwel (also ''Steinhäuel'' or ''Steinheil''; 1412 – 1482) was a Swabian author, humanist, and translator who was much inspired by the Italian Renaissance. His translations of medical treatises and fiction were an important c ...

's 1476 edition of Aesop, the Latin prose was emended by Brant, who also added verse commentaries with his characteristic combination of wit and style. The second part of the work is entirely new, consisting of riddles, additional fables culled from varied sources, and accounts of miracles and wonders of nature both from his own times and reaching back to antiquity. The letters by Brant that have survived show that he was in correspondence with Peter Schott, Johann Bergmann von Olpe, Emperor Maximilian, Thomas Murner,

Konrad Peutinger Conrad Peutinger (14 October 1465 – 28 December 1547) was a German humanist, jurist, diplomat, politician, economist and archaeologist (serving as Emperor Maximilian I's chief archaeological adviser). A senior official in the municipal governme ...

Willibald Pirckheimer Willibald Pirckheimer (5 December 1470 – 22 December 1530) was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City ...

, Johannes Reuchlin, Beatus Rhenanus,

Jakob Wimpfeling Jakob Wimpfeling (25 July 1450 – 17 November 1528) was a Renaissance humanist and theologian. Biography Wimpfeling was born in Sélestat (Schlettstadt), Alsace, Lorraine. He went to the school at Sélestat, which was run by Ludwig Dringen ...

and Ulrich Zasius.

References

Editions

* ''Das Narrenschiff'', Studienausgabe, ed. by Joachim Knape (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2005) * Online facsimile o
the original
* Edwin H. Zeydel's 1944 translation of ''The Ship of Fools'', of which there is a limited selection o
Google Books
* ''Aesopi Appologi'', an unpaged facsimile o
Google Books
a page by page online facsimile with short German descriptions fro

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brant, Sebastian 1457 births 1521 deaths Writers from Strasbourg German Roman Catholics German satirists Roman Catholic writers Christian humanists German male non-fiction writers 15th-century German jurists 16th-century German jurists

Biography

See also

References

Editions

Further reading

External links