Ship of fools

The ship of fools, depicted in a 1549 German woodcut

The ship of fools is an allegory that has long been a fixture and reminder in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction. This concept makes up the framework of the 15th century book Ship of Fools (1494) by Sebastian Brant, which served as the inspiration for Bosch's famous painting, Ship of Fools: a ship—an entire fleet at first—sets off from Basel to the paradise of fools. In literary and artistic compositions of the 15th and 16th centuries, the cultural motif of the ship of fools also served to parody the 'ark of salvation' (as the Catholic Church was styled).

Michel Foucault, in "Madness and Civilization", claimed that "ships of fools" were used as primitive concentration camps, to dispose of people having mental disorders. He further claims that these ships were routinely denied permission to dock anywhere, and thus were stranded at sea, sailing endlessly from port to port. There is no evidence, however, that such ships ever actually existed, and some have opined that Foucault had misinterpreted accounts that were originally intended to be figurative, fanciful, or allegorical.

References

• Stultifera Navis (The Ship of Fools): The Medieval Satire of Sebastian Brant, University Libraries, University of Houston (2002)
• Sebastian Brant. The Ship of Fools. Translated by Edwin Hermann Zeydel. Published by Courier Dover Publications, 1988 ISBN 0486257916, 9780486257914
• John Van Cleve. Sebastian Brant's 'The Ship of Fools' in Critical Perspective, 1800-1991. Columbia, SC: Camden House (1993) ISBN 9781879751408
• Review/Music; 2 Centuries Collaborate On a Tale Of Morality. EDWARD ROTHSTEIN, The New York Times. October 7, 1991
• The Ship of Fools, Spamula.net, March 13, 2005.
• Arthur F.J. Remy "Sebastian Brant." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 5 Dec. 2008.
• Robert. C. Evans. "Forgotten Fools: Alexander Barclay's Ship of Fools" in Fools and folly edited by Clifford Davidson. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University (1996).