Barclay’s The Ship of Fools is as…

Barclay’s The Ship of Fools is as popular in its English dress as it had been in Germany.

It is the starting-point of a new satirical literature.

In itself a product of the medieval conception of the fool who figured so largely in the Shrovetide and other pageants, it differs entirely from the general allegorical satires of the preceding centuries.

The figures are no longer abstractions; they are concrete examples of the folly of the bibliophile who collects books but learns nothing from them, of the evil judge who takes bribes to favor the guilty, of the old fool whom time merely strengthens in his folly, of those who are eager to follow the fashions, of the priests who spend their time in church telling "gestes" of Robin Hood and so forth.

Thus, the work is of interest as throwing light on the manners and customs of the times to which it refers.

The death of Barclay's patron in 1513 apparently puts an end to his connection with the west, and he becomes a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Ely.

In this retreat he probably writes his five eclogues, said to be the first English eclogues, which will be printed about 1518 by Wynkyn de Worde.

His style is stiff and his verse uninspired.