BRANDT, Sebastian, German satirist, was born at Strasburg about 1458. He studied at Basel, took the degree of doctor, and seems to have held a professorship for some time. After his return to Strasburg he was made syndic and then chancellor of the town. He died in 1521. Among his writings are some Latin poems and treatises on law; but the work by which he is best known is the satirical poem Das Narrenschyff, published in 1494. The Ship of Fools, though without artistic beauty of structure, and thoue r h its satire is often coarse, took the popular taste.

It was translated into Latin in 1497 by Locher, and soon appeared in almost every European language. Alexander Barclay’s Ship of Fooles (1509) is a free imitation of the German poem, and an abridged prose translation was published by Watson in 1517.