In 1494, Sebastian Brant published Das Narrenschiff, or The Ship of Fools, a popular satirical tract describing a representative cargo of follies and vices, undertaken by an ensemble of characters, voyaging towards the destination of Narragonia – the island of fools. Chapters were devoted to such offences as Arrogance Toward God, Marrying for Money, and Noise in Church. The idea also inspired Hieronymous Bosch’s painting, Ship of Fools. The Ships of Fools existed in reality as the mentally ill were indeed transported around the waterways of medieval Europe….

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