Sebastian Brant

Sebastian Brant (c. 1458-1521), German poet and humanist, born in Strasbourg (now in France). He studied at the University of Basel, taught and practised law there, and then returned to Strasbourg, where he became town clerk in 1501. Brant achieved fame through his moral and satirical poem Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools; 1494), one of the most remarkable and popular books of the time. It tells of a shipload of people looking for a fools' paradise, all of whom die because of their errant behaviour. Each character embodies a vice or folly of Brant's time, such as adultery, gluttony, and blasphemy. The book is a castigation of imprudence and eccentricity as well as vice and wickedness. The poem has undergone many translations and versions and formed the basis for Ship of Fools (1962), a novel by the American writer Katherine Anne Porter.