Vernacular Translation and the Sins of the Tongue: From Brant's Stultifera Navis (1494) to Droyn's La Nef des folles (c.1498)

Summary

Jodocus Badius's humanist treatise the Stultiferae Naves (1501) [The Ships of Foolish Maidens] can be justifiably considered as one of the most innovative adaptations of Sebastian Brant's late-medieval bestseller the Narrenschiff [Ship of Fools]. Based on a well-balanced combination of classical and Biblical sources cast in the mold of an elegant prosimetrum, Brant's popular satire of the moral failings of late-medieval society offers a new perspective (on the eve of the Renaissance) by showing an effective relationship between the disparate concepts of folly, the five senses, and humankind, often predominantly women. In spite of the popularity of Brant's satirical piece, Badius's Stultiferae Naves never reached a status comparable in scope with that of the Ship of Fools, which became widely known following the publication of a (shorter) Latin translation performed by Brant's disciple Jacob Locher.

It is likely that Badius's work would have enjoyed only limited success had it not been made available to a larger readership in the form of a translation/ adaptation into French rendered by Jehan Droyn, and attractively entitled La nef des folles selon les cinq sens de nature composés selon l'Evangille de Monseigneur Saint Mathieu des cinq vierges qui ne prindrent point d'uylle avecques eulx pour mectre en leurs lampes [The Ship of Foolish Maidens According to the Five Senses of Nature Composed According to Sir Saint Matthew's Gospel of the Five Virgins Who Did not Take Oil with Them to Put in Their Lamps] (hereafter cited as La nef des folles).