Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff (1494, 3 rd Latin ed. 1498) at the University of Manitoba: Dysart Collection No. 22 1 50 th Anniversary Conference, UND Grand Forks, Fr 17 Oct. 2009 gd (rev. 26 Feb 2010)
UManitoba Dysart Collection n University of Manitoba's Dysart Collection of Rare Books & Manuscripts contains 16 incunabula (=books published before 1500) Only three are by non-German printers, only two are in German The remaining fourteen are in Latin 2
UManitoba Dysart Collection n Germany had no Renaissance to speak of, unlike Italy, France or England But it did have a sort of printing monopoly during the first fifty years of Gutenberg's invention Many printers working in Italy, France, or elsewhere, were also German 3
UManitoba Dysart Collection n n The recently expanded UM German Studies Programs allow to integrate the wider cultural context of the period the Dysart incunabula are therefore recognized as a valuable bibliographic resource on the German Studies Reference webpage 4
UM German Studies Reference 5
UManitoba Dysart Collection n n An e-Edition of a 1973 Dysart Collection Exhibition Catalogue is in preparation It will link the 16 incunabula, along with 9 medieval manuscripts, to other rare book collections in North America and abroad 6
UManitoba Dysart Collection 7
Brant's Das Narrenschiff n n n Sebastian Brant's Book was published in Basel by Johann Bergmann in 1494 This printer's Motto was: "Nihil Sine Causa" (=nothing without cause) Among other notable editions were: – the 1493 Report of Columbus' Discovery – 1492 & 1495 Broadsides about a Meteor impact & a Flood in Rome n Brant was involved in all of these 8
About Bergmann n n Johann Bergmann von Olpe (ca. 1455 -1532) was a prolific printer & priest He was responsible for some of the most "avant-garde" publications of his times, like the ones mentioned above Besides the German & Latin editions of the Narrenschiff, he printed works by other humanists like Locher, Reuchlin, & Wimpfeling 1493, M. vom Stein's Ritter vom Turn appeared [a transl. of La. Tour Landry's Livre du chevalier, 14 th c. ] 9
Bergmann's Motto, 1497/8 10
Columbus’ Report n Columbus sensational discovery included “Gold & nackte Leut” (Gold & Naked People) n n It was not clear which was more amazing To judge by the cover, it was the latter 11
Columbus' Report: Cover (Basel: Bergmann, 1493) 12
Broadside on Ensisheim Meteor D e f u l g e t r a a n n i 1 4 9 2 V o m D o n n e r s t e i n d e s J a h r e s 1 4 9 2 Latin & German NOTE: Ensisheim was an important administrative Centre of Emperor Maximilian's Court 13
Brant's Narrenschiff I (1494) n n n Brant's moral satire in 112 rhymed chapters was an instant bestseller He used the Fool's topic for didactic reasons, criticizing universal human vices & foibles (including the seven deadly sins) His intent was to lead the sinners back onto the correct path of Christian moral philosophy (mostly Patristic: he had edited St. Augustin & Ambrosius with Basel printer Amerbach in 1494 & 1492) 14
Brant's Narrenschiff II (1494) n n n Each chapter was preceded by an illustration and a motto This allows the new print medium to exploit an intricate and effective combination of image and text The majority of the 117 woodcuts are by Albrecht Dürer, the best known "Northern Renaissance" artist 15
Brant's Narrenschiff (Chapter 13: Of Wooing) XIII. Von buolschafft. An mynem seyl ich draffter yeich Vil narren / affen / esel / geüch Die ich verfűr betrüg vnd leych NOTE: Seductive Venus is "joined at the hip" with Death -- a reference to the Syphilis that was introduced by Columbus' sailors in 1493, & had become a rampant epidemic by 1498. -- There even is a monk amongst her many victims! The theme of Love & Death takes on contemporary significance: AIDS is the obvious equivalent 500 years later… 16
Sebastian Brant (1457 -1521) 17
Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528) 18
About Brant I n n n Brant (1457– 1521) studied and taught law and poetry in Basel for many years He was an arch-conservative humanist, utterly pious & patriotic But: ironically, his outspoken criticism against certain abuses of the Church helped prepare the ground for the protestant reformation 19
About Brant II n n Brant's contribution to the doublelayered German & Latin cultural context of his times is considerable He was author, editor, translator & "lector" to Basel printers & producers like Amerbach, Furter, Froben & Petri, besides Bergmann 20
About Brant III n n n He was equally skilled in writing Latin & German poetry & legal texts He edited the Church Fathers Augustin, Hieronymus & Ambrosius, but also Petrarch, Columbus' 1493 Report, & Broadsides These were presented as ominous signs of Divine Wrath: Floods, Meteor impacts, etc. (related to St. John's apocalyptic Revelations) 21
Success of Brant's Narrenschiff I n n n The great popularity of the book was partly due to the fact that it explicitly addressed ALL classes & both genders Brant considered the illustrations as "servants to the ignorant" & quite subordinate to his text But Dürer's woodcuts were a decisive factor in this book's overwhelming success when it was translated into numerous languages 22
Success of Brant's Narrenschiff II n Brant's 1494 book was one of the first printed texts in German [Dante & Petrarch had written in Italian 200 years earlier, but printed eds. only appeared around 1500] n n Along with Martin Luther's German Bible (1534), the Narrenschiff helped mold early German "neuhochdeutsch" However, Luther's German is far more intelligible for today's readers than Brant's Allemanic dialect 23
Brant's Narrenschiff (Title, 1494) 24
Luther's Bible, 1534 25
Brant's Narrenschiff (e-Ed, 1494) A beautiful e-Edition can be found in the impressive Bibiotheca Augustana 26
Brant's Narrenschiff (Contents, 1494) Here part of the Bibiotheca Augustana e-Ed. Contents 27
Brant's Narrenschiff (The End, 1499) 28
About Locher n n Jakob "Philomusus" Locher (1471– 1528) had been Brant's student in Basel Unlike his mentor, who was 14 years older, he had been to Italy & was far less conservative Emperor Maximilian I crowned him, Poeta Laureatus in 1497 for his plays, hymns & elegies Locher is also known for fiery antischolastic polemics, & for providing the 1 st Latin edition of Horace in Germany 29
Locher's Stultifera Navis I (1497/8) n n n Locher's free Latin translation was published, also by Bergmann, with the title Stultifera Navis There are three printings: March & August 1497, & March 1498 Dysart Collection 22 is of the 3 rd printing, & the only one to contain a new Latin text by Brant 30
Brant's Narrenschiff (Latin) (Web Catalogue Entry of Dysart 22, March 1498 ed. ) 31
Brant's Narrenschiff (Latin) (Dysart 22: Title Page, 3 rd Printing, March 1498) 32
Locher's Stultifera Navis II n n n (1497/8) Unlike Brant's German original, the Latin text meant to address only the educated This included few notable women In several introductory texts in verse and prose, Locher explains the reasons for his undertaking: – Fools are in abundance everywhere – Brant's German book would be useless to many without Locher's Latin version 33
Locher's Stultifera Navis III (1497/8) n n Locher further justifies his translation by pointing to Dante and Petrarch Both had been rendered in Latin, the latter as recently as 1496 by Brant He follows Brant's text closely enough But: Brant tends to use classical texts compatible with Christian writings, & accords them a rather subservient role 34
Locher's Stultifera Navis IV (1497/8) n n n Locher makes much more liberal use of classical, "pagan" sources He also tends to blend them & religious references into complex, colourful images And he lacks Brant's primary didactic zeal, so that pious exhortations come out lame, or are omitted altogether 35
Locher's Stultifera Navis V (1497/8) n n n Some of Brant's chapters were limited to local customs & could not be easily translated In those cases, Locher fell back on the classics to bemoan corrupt times in general In Chap. 4, Brant finds contemporary fashion too revealing [even the navel!] 36
Brant's Narrenschiff (Chapter 4: Of New Ways) V. Von nuwen funden Wer vil nüw fünd macht durch die land Der gibt vil ærgernyß vnd schand Vnd halt den narren by der hand 37
Locher's Stultifera Navis VI (1497/8) n n Locher also changes Brant's "damn the German nation" to a more timeless & universal "O mores hominum, corrupta o tempora, et atra" borrowed from Cicero ["oh, the bad ways of mankind, oh what sinful & dark times"] With these culturally neutral adjustments, Brant's Narrenschiff in Locher's Latin version was ready to be launched internationally 38
Locher's Stultifera Navis VII (1497/8) n n n Brant reviewed Locher's work & reintroduced the lacking proper path to Christian "Sapientia" with many marginal notes in the 1 st 1497 printing He further expanded these in the 2 nd 1497 printing, & added more marginal texts of the illustrations The 3 d printing (March 1498) remained basically unchanged from the 2 nd, but… 39
Locher's Stultifera Navis VIII (1497/8) n ONLY this 1498 edition contains Brant's "Nova Inventio" De corrupto ordine vivendi… [Of Corrupt Ways of Living] n n It has apocalyptic overtones akin to Dürer's 1497/98 woodcuts of St. John's Revelation Brant's Narrenschiff in Locher's Latin versions of was an instant hit & soon spawned many translations, including Alexander Barclay's Ship of Fools (1509) 40
Influence of Stultifera Navis I (1497/8) n n n In German-speaking countries, there were inspired sermons of Geiler von Kaysersberg (1445 bis 1510) Equally important were satires by the Franciscan monk Thomas Murner (1475 -1537) His 1511/12 Schelmenzunft surpasses Brant in wit, as does his Narrenbeschwörung Murner became well-known as a bitter rival of Luther & Zwingli after 1520 He was well-received in 1523 by Henry VIII, whose book on sacraments he had published in German a year earlier 41
Thomas Murner 42
Thomas Murner's Narrenbeschwörung (1511/12) 43
Influence of Stultifera Navis II (1497/8) n n n One particularly noteworthy influence is The Praise of Folly by Erasmus Written in 1509, it was published in 1515, & has at least one of its sources in common with the Narrenschiff: Lucian (ca. 125 -180 A. D. ) who was widely read by educated Humanists – He also inspired satirists like Rabelais, Grimmelshausen, Molière, Swift, Cervantes, Voltaire, & even down to Brecht 44
Erasmus, by Holbein, 1523 45
Erasmus' Praise of Folly (Latin ed. , Basel: Frobenius, 1515) 46
About Dürer I n n n Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528) was in w Basel in 1492 & 1494 as a journeyman His ca. 80 of 117 woodcuts for Brant's book in the Latin eds. were likely his first professional assignment He is believed to have collaborated closely with the author to match the moralistic text 47
About Dürer II n n A good example is the allegorical Venus already mentioned: in a pictorial translation of the text, she has Death under her left wing, she is led by a blind-folded Cupid, and she ensnares many, even a monk, in her seductive ropes It is the eternal topic of "Love & Death", "Eros & Thanatos" 48
Brant's Narrenschiff (XXIIII. De Amore Venereo) 49
Dürer's Brant Illustrations n n n Brant seems to have been somewhat of a misogynist To judge by some of his chapters, he considers women vain, pleasureseeking, unfaithful, conniving, etc. Other topics are stereotypical Renaissance adaptations of the classics, such as the Wheel of Fortune 50
Brant's Narrenschiff (About Women: Vanity) 51
Brant's Narrenschiff (About Fortune: Von Glückes Fall) 52
About Dürer III n n An especially intriguing illustration is the last of 117: it is unique to the 1498 edition of Dysart 22 It appears on leaf CXLV as a full Title. Page to Brant's new concluding text: De corrupto ordine vivendi pereuntibus [Those who will perish from their corrupt ways of living] n The upper left-hand corner shows a square horoscope for Oct. 2, 1503, at 9 p. m. 53
Brant's De corrupto ordine vivendi… n n n The intriguing illustration 117 & Brant's "new text" are unique to Locher's 3 rd printing (1498, Dysart 22) However, De corrupto ordine vivendi… appears simultaneously, also with Bergmann von Olpe's imprint, somewhere in the middle of Brant's Varia Carmina (1498) No title-page, & smaller chapter captions are used in this short World Chronicle 54
Brant's Narrenschiff (1498 Latin ed. , ill. 117: Title-Page to "Of Corrupt Ways of Living") 55
About Dürer IV n n n This astrological prediction five years ahead of time may be related to one of the many "Weltuntergang" predictions Brant's Broadsides about the Flood of Rome & the Ensisheim "Donnerstein" Meteor in the early 1490 s were similarly propagated as warnings Dürer had witnessed them while in the area as a young journeyman 56
About Dürer V n n In 1497/8, when Dürer provided this particular image, he was engaged in a series of 16 large apocalyptic woodcuts about St. John's Revelation Though in Nürnberg then, his godfather Koberger's extensive trade connections and his own relations with the Rhenian Humanists make his collaboration likely 57
Dürer's Acopalypse (1497/98) 58
Brant & Dürer 500 Years later n n n The impact of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press has rightly been compared to the present-day electronic revolution Brant's & Dürer's Love & Death theme can easily linked to AIDS in our times And doomsday predictions for the year 2012 abound, fuelled by natural disasters like earthquakes & tsunamis 59
References n University of Manitoba, Dysart Collection of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Exhibition Catalogue, 1973 (e. Edition in progress) n n n UM, Dafoe Reference Internet Resources [ongoing] UMannheim, Facsim-Ed. , Columbus. Epistola de insulis nuper inventis. Basel: Johann Bergmann von Olpe, 1494 [36 p. , 6 ills]. University of Houston, Special Colls: ills. of 1498 ed. – http: //info. lib. uh. edu/sca/digital/ship/ n BIBLIOTHECA AUGUSTANA: German Text & ills. , 1494 – http: //www. hsaugsburg. de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/15 Jh/Brant/ 60
Скачать презентацию Sebastian Brant s Narrenschiff 1494 3 rd Latin ed
c005f621246535084f83a0ec99355624.ppt