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Sebastian Brant

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Sebastian Brant by Albrecht Dürer

Sebastian Brant (also Brandt; 1457/1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist.[1] He is best known for his satire Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools).[2]

Early life and education

Brant was born in either 1457 or 1458 in Strasbourg,[3] Holy Roman Empire, to innkeeper Diebold Brant and Barbara Brant (née Rickler).[4] He entered the University of Basel in October 1475 and as an assistant to Jacobus Hugonius he did not pay the matriculation.[5] For five years he lived in the dorm of magister Hieronymus Berlin,[5] initially studying philosophy and then transferring to the school of law.[4] He was taught Latin by Johann Matthias von Gengenbach, who also lectured philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy.[6] Initially studying at the Faculty of Philosophy he later studied law. It is assumed he began his law studies in 1476, as his bachelor is already mentioned in the winter of 1477-1478 and in 1484 Brant obtained a licentiate.[7] In 1483 he began teaching at the university and completed his doctorate in law in 1489.[4] He graduated in both canon and civil law.[7]

Professional career

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 von Olpe, 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 of vulgar and coarse people. He was employed by the printer Johann Amerbach with whom he collaborated in the publications of the works of christian fathers Augustine and Ambrose.[8] In jurisprudence, he also worked on the Corpus Juridici canonici, which Amerbach was to print jointly with Johannes Froben in 1500.[8] He was very close with several printers of Basel.[9] Between 1488 and 1501 it is known he worked on ninety-five books and it is assumed he worked on several more.[10] Among others, forty-one were published by Johann Bergmann von Olpe, seventeen by Johann Amerbach and twenty-four by Michael Furter.[10] Most of Brant's important writing, including many works on civil and canon law, were written while he was living in Basel.[11] Other sources mention Brant's involvement in about a third of all books published in Basel the late 1500s, but this number is disputed.[10]

He returned to Strasbourg, where he was made syndic in August 1500[12] and remained for the rest of his life. He assumed the office of the syndic in January 1501.[13] In 1502 Maximilian I nominated him an Imperial Councilor.[14] He would also earn the title of a Count Palatine and later be a judge for the Imperial Court in Speyer.[14] In 1503 he secured the influential position of chancellor (stadtschreiber)[13] and his engagement in public affairs prevented him from pursuing a literature career as before.[15] Brant was a catholic, but he remained tolerant to the protestants, who were allowed to preach in the market square and publish books during his tenure as a chancellor.[15] In Strasbourg his literary work included a translation into German of the Hortulus Animae in 1501/1502, a Vergil edition in 1503 and he also prepared an edition of Petrarcas "Glücksbuch" for 1520.[16]

Brant made several petitions to the Emperor Maximilian to drive back the Turks in order to save the West.[17] 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.[18]

Although essentially conservative in his religious views, Brant's eyes were open to abuses in the church. He published the Narrenschiff in 1494, printed by Michael Furter.[19] Alexander Barclay's Ship of Fools (1509) is a free imitation into early Tudor period English of the German poem, and a Latin version by Jakob Locher (1497)[20] 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 of the period, gathers round him a rascally collection of tradesmen and sets off to sail through England.[21]

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'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, Willibald Pirckheimer, Johannes Reuchlin, Beatus Rhenanus, Jakob Wimpfeling and Ulrich Zasius.

Personal life

In 1485 he had married Elisabeth Bürg, the daughter of a cutler in the town.[22] Brant was the father of seven children.[23] Two of the godfathers to the children were Johann Amerbach and Johann Froben.[23] 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. Onophrius was to study law with Ulrich Zasius in Freiburg.[24] Later he would be employed in the public service in Strasbourg.[24] His daughter Anna was married to Paul Butz, Sebastian Brant’s successor.[24] He at times signed as Titio, a rarely used Latin term for firebrand, mostly when it rhymed.[25] Johannes Trithemius seemed to be more fond of the name than Brant himself, though.[25]

He died in Strasbourg.

Editions

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

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Sebastian Brant — A German humanist and poet, born at Stasburg in 1457 or 1458; died at the same place, 1521. He attended the University of Basle where he at first studied philosophy, but soon after abandoned this for law, obtaining in 1489 the degree of Doctor of Canon and Civil Law. Prior to this, from 1484, Brant had begun to lecture at the university, practising his profession at the same time. He wrote a number of poems in Latin and German in which he set forth his religious and political ideals. The election of Maximilian as emperor had filled him and many other patriots with high hope. To see the emperor the supreme temporal ruler of Christian nations, and the Church the supreme spiritual ruler on earth was his one great desire and henceforth coloured all his poems. Especially did he hope for the restoration of imperial power in Germany and the strengthening of the realm. But he was doomed to disappointment. In 1499 Basle was separated from the empire and became a member of the Swiss confederacy. Brant's position here now became untenable, and he decided to change his residence. 1494 he had published his poem "The Ship of Fools", which had won him great popularity. Geiler von Kaisersberg, the famous Strasburg preacher, had made it the basis of a series of sermons, and he now recommended the appointment of Brant to the vacant position of city-syndic in Strasburg. The poet accepted the offer, and in 1501 he returned to his native city, where two years later he was appointed town-clerk and soon rose to considerable prominence. The remainder of his life was uneventful. Towards the great religious movement of his time, the Reformation, he maintained an attitude of passive indifference. Repeatly he served his city in an official capacity, the last time in 1520, as spokeman of an embassy sent to the newly elected Emperor, Charles V, to obtain for Strasburg the usual confirmation of its ancient privileges.

The work to which Brant owes his fame is the "Narrenschiff" (Ship of Fools), a long didactic, allegorical poem, in which the follies and vices of the time are satirized. All the fools are loaded in a ship bound for Narragonia, the land of fools. But this plan is by no means carried out systematically, many descriptions being introduced which have no connection with the main idea. The resulting lack of unity, however, has its advantage; for it enables the poet to discuss all kinds of social, political, and religious conditions. Not only follies in the usual sense of the word are satirized, but also crimes and vices, which are conceived of as follies in accordance with the medieval way of thinking. Hence among the fools appear such people as usurers, gamblers, and adulterers. A chapter is devoted to each kind of folly and there are one hundred and twelve chapters in which one hundred and ten kinds of fools pass muster. As a work of art the poem does not rank high, though its tone is serious and earnest, especially where the poet pleads for his ideals, as in chapter xcix, entitled "Von abgang des glouben" (on the decline of faith). Knowledge of self is praised as the height of wisdom. The "Narrenschiff" enjoyed a tremendous popularity in Germany, which is attested by the numerous editions that appeared in rapid succession. But its fame was not confined to Germany. It was translated into Latin by Jacob Locher in 1497 (Stultifera Navis), into French by Paul Riviere in 1497 and by Jehan Droyn in 1498. An English verse translation by Alexander Barclay appeared in London in 1509, and again in 1570; one in prose by Henry Watson in London, 1509; and again 1517. It was also rendered into Dutch and Low German.

Besides the "Narrenschiff" Brant wrote religious and political poems in Latin and Gerrnan. He also edited and translated a number of legal and theological treatises. The most complete edition of the "Narrenschiff" is that of Father Zarncke (Leipzig, 1854 ) which contains also selections from Brant's other works. Other editions are by Karl Goedeke (Leipzig, 1872) and F. Bobertag (in Kurschner's Deutsche National Litteratur, XVI). A modern German translation was made by Karl Simroek (Berlin, 1972). A clear edition of the English translation of Barclay, by T. M. Jamieson, appeared at Edinburgh in 1874 in 2 vols.

References

  1. Back to citation Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brant, Sebastian". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  2. Back to citation The Ship of Fools
  3. Back to citation Zeydel, Edwin H. (1966). "Wann wurde Sebastian Brant geboren?". Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur. 95 (4): 319–320. ISSN 0044-2518. JSTOR 20655345.
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 "Brant, Sebastian". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas, ed. (2002). Sebastian Brant, Forschungsbeiträge zu seinem Leben, zum Narrenschiff und zum übrigen Werk (in German). Basel: Schwabe Verlag. p. 11. ISBN 3-7965-1734-X.
  6. Back to citation Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).pp.11–12
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.14
  8. Back to citation occurrence 8.0 Back to citation occurrence 8.1 Haegen, Pierre Louis (2001). Der frühe Basler Buchdruck: ökonomische, sozio-politische und informationssystematische Standortfaktoren und Rahmenbedingungen (in German). Schwabe. p. 140. ISBN 978-3-7965-1090-8.
  9. Back to citation Haegen, Pierre Louis (2001),p.142
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 Back to citation occurrence 10.2 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.24
  11. Back to citation Kisch, Guido (1962). Die Anfänge der Juristischen Fakultät der Universität Basel 1459 - 1529 (in German). Basel: von Helbing & Lichtenhahn. pp. 77–80.
  12. Back to citation Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.30
  13. Back to citation occurrence 13.0 Back to citation occurrence 13.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.31
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.32
  15. Back to citation occurrence 15.0 Back to citation occurrence 15.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.33
  16. Back to citation Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.34
  17. Back to citation Harrison, E. L. (1981). "Virgil, Sebastian Brant, and Maximilian I". The Modern Language Review. 76 (1): 104–106. doi:10.2307/3727014. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3727014.
  18. Back to citation Lach, Donald F. (1994). Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume II: A Century of Wonder. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226467122. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  19. Back to citation Kisch, Guido (1962). "Die Anfänge der Juristischen Fakultät der Universität Basel 1459–1529" (in German). Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn. p. 78.
  20. Back to citation 1498 edition of Stultifera Navis
  21. Back to citation 1843 reprint
  22. Back to citation Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.15
  23. Back to citation occurrence 23.0 Back to citation occurrence 23.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.18
  24. Back to citation occurrence 24.0 Back to citation occurrence 24.1 Back to citation occurrence 24.2 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.19
  25. Back to citation occurrence 25.0 Back to citation occurrence 25.1 Wilhelmi, Thomas (ed.).p.12

Further reading

  • C. H. Herford, The Literary Relations of England and Germany in the 16th Century (1886) discusses the influence of Brant in England.
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