1509 - Barclay, Alexander - Ship of Fools (2)

Alexander Barclay, a wood cut included in many early editions of his works (from The Ship of Fools, 1874).

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-28. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-07-28.

Allusion

And in the mornynge whan they come to the quere
The one begynneth a Fable or a hystory
The other lenyth theyr erys it to here
Takynge it in stede of the inuyntory
Some other maketh respons antym and memory
And all of fables and iestis of Robyn hode
Or other tryfyls that skantly ar so gode.

IRHB comments

Alexander Barclay's work The Sip of Fools, published 1509, is a Scots rendering of Sebastian Brandt's Narrenschiff.

Editions

• Barclay, Alexander, adapt.; Brandt, Sebastian; Locher, Jakob, transl. Venerandissimo in Xp̄o Patri ac dn̄o: dn̄o Thome Cornisshe [...] Alexander Barclay suiipsius recōmendacionē ... This Present Boke Named the Shyp of Folys of the Worlde was Translated ī the College of Saynt Mary Otery in the Counte of Deuonshyre: out of Laten, Frenche, and Doche Into Englysshe Tonge (London in Fletestre [sic] at the signe of Saynt George, 1509). First edition.
• Barclay, Alexander, adapt.; Brandt, Sebastian; Mancini, Dominic; Piccolomini, Enea Silvio; Mantuanus, Baptista Spagnuoli; Locher, Jakob, transl. Stultifera Nauis, Qua Omnium Mortalium Narratur Stultitia [...] È Latino Sermone in Nostrum Vulgarem Versa [...] The Ship of Fooles, Wherin is Shewed the Folly of All States, with Diuers other Workes Adioyned Vnto the Same [...] (Imprinted at London in Paules Church-yarde, 1570).
• Barclay, Alexander, adapt.; [Brandt, Sebastian]; [Jamieson, Thomas Hill], ed. The Ship of Fools (Edinburgh; London, 1874).

Lists

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976).
• Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88, see p. 269. Cites the three Robin Hood allusions that occur in this text.

Background

• Schultz, John Richie. 'The Life of Alexander Barclay', Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. XVIII (1919), pp. 360-68.
• Wikipedia: Alexander Barclay

Notes