Sebastian Brant s Narrenschiff 1494 Latin 1497 8 at the

Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff (1494, Latin 1497/8) at the University of Manitoba: Dysart Collection No. 22 1 50 th Anniversary Conference, UND Grand Forks, Fr 17 Oct. 2009 gd

UManitoba Dysart Collection n University of Manitoba's Dysart Collection of Rare Books & Manuscripts contains 16 incunabula, or 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 or France 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 (1494) Sebastian Brant's Book was published in Basel by Johann Bergmann von Olpe in 1494 This printer's Motto was: "Nihil Sine Causa" 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. 14551532) was a prolific printer & priest He was responsible for some of the most "avant-garde" publications of his times, like the ones mentioned 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 n n Columbus sensational discovery included “Gold & nackte Leut” 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 13

Brant's Narrenschiff (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 Amerbach's imprint in 1494 & 1492) 14

Brant's Narrenschiff (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 (13. Kapitel: Of Wooing) XIII. Von buolschafft. An mynem seyl ich draffter yeich Vil narren / affen / esel / geüch Die ich verfűr betrüg vnd leych 16

Sebastian Brant (1457 -1521) 17

Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528) 18

About Brant n n n Brant (1457– 1521) studied and taught law and poetry in Basel for many years He was an archi-conservative humanist, pious & patriotic But: his outspoken criticism against certain abuses of the Church helped prepare the ground for the protestant reformation 19

About Brant n n Brant's contribution to the double-layered German & Latin cultural context of his times is considerable He was author, editor, translator & "lector" to Basel printers like Amerbach, Furter, Froben & Petri, besides Bergmann He was equally skilled in writing poetry & legal texts He edited the Church Fathers Augustin & Ambrosius, but also Petrarcha, Columbus' Report, & Broadsides 20

Success of Brant's Narrenschiff n n The great popularity of the book was partly due to the fact that it was explicitly addressed to ALL classes & both genders It was one of the first printed texts in German [Dante & Petrarcha had written in Italian ca. 200 years earlier, but print eds. didn't appear before 1501] n Along with Martin Luther's German Bible in 1534, it helped mold the German "neuhochdeutsch" vernacular 21

Brant's Narrenschiff (Title, 1494) 22

Luther's Bible, 1534 23

Brant's Narrenschiff (Title, 1494) A beautiful e-Edition can be found in the impressive Bibiotheca Augustana 24

Brant's Narrenschiff (Contents, 1494) Here part of the Bibiotheca Augustana e-Ed. Contents 25

Brant's Narrenschiff : The End 26

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 He is also known for fiery anti-scholastic polemics, & for providing the 1 st Latin edition of Horace in Germany 27

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n Locher's free Latin translation was published, also by Bergmann, with the title Stultifera Navis It was printed in March & August 1497, & in March 1498 Dysart Collection 22 is of the 3 rd printing 28

Brant's Narrenschiff (Latin) (Web Catalogue Entry of Dysart 22, March 1498 ed. ) 29

Brant's Narrenschiff (Latin) (Dysart 22: Title Page, 3 rd Printing, March 1498) 30

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n Unlike Brant's German original, it was meant to address the educated only This apparently excluded most women In several introductory texts in verse and prose, Locher explains the reasons for his undertaking: – there are Fools in abundance everywhere – Brant's useful book would be unintelligible to them without Locher's Latin version 31

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n Locher further justifies his translation by pointing to Dante and Petrarcha 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 32

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n Locher makes much more use of classical sources He also blends them with 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 33

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n Brant, who reviewed Locher's work, reintroduced the proper path to Christian "Sapientia" with many marginal notes in the 1 st printing He further expanded these in the 2 nd 1497 printing, & added to the texts next to the illustrations The 3 d printing (March 1498) remained basically unchanged from the 2 nd 34

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n Some of Brant's chapters were limited to local customs & would not be easily translated In those cases, Locher fell back on the classics to bemoan corrupt times in general In Kap. 4, Brant finds the contemporary fashion too revealing [even the navel!] 35

Brant's Narrenschiff (4. Kapitel: 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 36

Locher's Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n Locher changes Brant's "damn the German nation" to a timeless & universal "O mores hominum, corrupta o tempora, et atra" borrowed from Cicero n [oh the bad ways of mankind, oh what sinful & dark times] The Latin version of Brant's Narrenschiff was an instant hit & soon spawned many translations, incl. Alexander Barclay's Ship of Fools (1509) 37

Influence of Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n In German-speaking countries, there were the 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 surpass Brant's book in wit, as does his Narrenbeschwörung Murner became well-known as a bitter opponent 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 38

Influence of Stultifera Navis (1497/8) n n n One particularly noteworthy influence is The Praise of Folly by Erasmus It was published in 1511, & has one at least one of its sources in common with the Narrenschiff: Lucian (ca. 125 -180 A. D. ) who was widely read by the educated – He also inspired satirists like Rabelais, Grimmelshausen, Molière, Swift, Cervantes, Voltaire, & even down to Brecht 39

About Dürer n n Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528) was in w Basel in 1492 & 1494 as a journeyman The ca. 80 woodcuts [of 117 in the Latin eds. ] for Brant's book were likely his first professional assignment He is believed to have collaborated with the author to match the text A good example is the allegorical Venus in Kap. 4: a pictorial translation, she is led by a blind-folded Cupid… 40

Brant's Narrenschiff (XXIIII. De Amore Venereo) 41

About Dürer n One especially intriguing ill. in Dysart 22 is CXLV, De corrupto ordine vivendi [Of Corrupt Ways of Living] n n In the upper left-hand corner, it shows a square horoscope for Oct. 2, 1503 It is the last of 117 illustrations in the 1497/1498 editions 42

Brant's Narrenschiff (Latin eds, ill. 117: Of Corrupt Ways of Living) 43

About Dürer n n This may be related to one of the many "Weltuntergang" predictions, & also Brant's 1492 Broadside about the Meteor impact in Ensisheim Dürer, who had witnessed this "warning" event then, was engaged in his series of 16 apocalyptic woodcuts (1496 -1498) at the time he provided this particular image in 1497/8 44

Dürer's Acopalypse 45

References n n University of Manitoba, Dysart Collection of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Exhibition Catalogue, 1973 (e. Edition in progress) 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 1497/8 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/ 46