1521 in literature explained

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1521.

Events

• January 3 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther, by the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.^[1]
• January 14 – Martin Luther writes to Johann von Staupitz, saying that he has burned the papal bull.^[2]
• February 9 – Íñigo López de Mendoza y Zúñiga arrives in Rome to campaign against Erasmus; later in the year he publishes an account of his journey from Spain.^[3]
• June (probably 29 or 30) – Neacșu's letter, the oldest surviving dateable document written primarily in the Romanian language (in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet), is approximately dated to this month.
• August 13 – Marko Marulić's poem Judita (Judith, written 1501), a landmark in Croatian literature, is printed in Venice by Guglielmo da Fontaneto.

• unknown date – John Siberch is active in Cambridge, the city's earliest known printer.^[4]

New books

Prose

• Codex Ňuu Tnoo - Ndisi Nuu
• Jacopo Berengario da Carpi – Commentaria cum amplissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini (published in Bologna), containing the first printed anatomical illustrations taken from nature
• Goražde Psalter
• Henry VIII of England – Defence of the Seven Sacraments (Assertio Septem Sacramentorum)
• Niccolò Machiavelli – The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra)
• Piri Reis – Kitab-ı Bahriye

Poetry

See main article: 1521 in poetry.

• Alexander Barclay – The Boke of Codrus and Mynalcas, the author's "Fourth Eclog"^[5]
• Henry Bradshaw – The Life of St. Werburgh^[5]
• Andrew Chertsey, The Passyon of Oure Lorde, translated from French with additional verses inserted and introductory poem by Robert Copland (published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^[5]
• Christmas Carols, including "A caroll of huntynge" and "A carol bringyng in the bores heed"^[5]
• Robert Copland – Introductory verse to The Myrrour & the Chyrche (published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^[6]

Approximate year

• (A Book of a Ghostly Father, published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^{[5] [6]}
• John Skelton, "The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng"^{[5] [7]}

Births

• May 8 – Peter Canisius, German theologian (died 1597)^[8]
• unknown dates
  • Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder, English statesman and poet (died 1565)
  • Xu Wei (徐渭), Chinese painter, poet and dramatist (died 1593)
• probable
  • Anne Askew, English poet and Protestant martyr (burned at the stake 1546)
  • Jorge de Montemor, Portuguese novelist and poet writing in Spanish (died 1561)
  • Pontus de Tyard, French poet and priest, a member of La Pléiade (died 1605)^[9]

Deaths

• May 10 – Sebastian Brant, German satirical poet and humanist (born c. 1457)
• unknown date– Jean Bourdichon, French illuminator of manuscripts (born 1457/9)

Notes and References

1. Book: Michael M. Tavuzzi. Prierias: The Life and Works of Silvestro Mazzolini Da Prierio, 1456-1527. 1997. Duke University Press. 0-8223-1976-4. 80.
2. Book: Frederick Kiefer. Writing on the Renaissance Stage: Written Words, Printed Pages, Metaphoric Books. 1996. University of Delaware Press. 978-0-87413-595-4. 53.
3. Book: Desiderius Erasmus. The Correspondence of Erasmus. 1988. University of Toronto Press. 978-0-8020-2607-1. 454.
4. Book: George Watson. J. D. Pickles. Ian R. Willison. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 1, 600-1660. 29 August 1974. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-20004-2. 965.
5. Book: Cox, Michael . The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature . Oxford University Press . 2004 . 0-19-860634-6 . registration .
6. Web site: Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database  - Tudor Poetry, 1500-1603 . Academic Text Service (ATS) . Stanford University Library . 2009-09-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110608071217/http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/ats/engpo5-toc.html . 2011-06-08 . dead.
7. Reprinted in Skelton's Certain Books (1545).
8. Book: Francis Sales Betten. From Many Centuries: A Collection of Historical Papers. 1968. Books for Libraries Press. 121.
9. Book: Marie Boas Hall. The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630. 2 April 2013. Courier Corporation. 978-0-486-14499-3. 105.