1556 in literature explained

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1556.

Events

• Unknown dates
  • The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits at Saint Paul's College, Goa.^[1]
  • The first written evidence of Yakshagana dance-drama is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple, Hosaholalu in India.^[2]
  • Augustus, Elector of Saxony, establishes a royal state library in Dresden, predecessor of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.^[3]

New books

Prose

• Georg Bauer – De re metallica
• John Ponet – A Short Treasure of Politic Power

Poetry

• Pierre de Ronsard – Les Hymnes

Births

• March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and philosopher (died 1621)
• April 27 – François Béroalde de Verville, French novelist and poet (died 1626)
• July 25 (baptised) – George Peele, English dramatist and poet (died 1596)
• August 10 – Philipp Nicolai, German poet and composer (died 1608)
• November 15 – Jacques Davy Duperron, French poet, cardinal and politician (died 1618)
• November 25 (baptised) – John Heminges, English actor and editor of the First Folio (died 1630)^[4]
• Unknown date – John Paul Nazarius, Italian theologian (died 1645)

Deaths

• April 26 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and teacher (born 1490)
• May 7 – Hieronymus Andreae, German printer and publisher (date of birth unknown)
• July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (born 1491)
• October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian satirist (born 1492)^[5]
• October 31 – Johannes Sleidanus, Luxembourgeois historian (born 1506)
• November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Florentine poet (born 1503)
• December 23 – Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (born 1504)^[6]
• Unknown dates
  • Fuzûlî, Ottoman poet and philosopher (born c.1483)
  • Oddur Gottskálksson, Icelandic translator (born 1514/1515)^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: Geoffrey C. Gunn. First Globalization: The Eurasian Exchange, 1500 to 1800. 2003. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-7425-2662-4. 87.
2. Book: Martha Bush Ashton, Bruce Christie. Yakshagana, a Dance Drama of India. 1977. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi. 21–22. 2012-08-08.
3. Book: Sir Frederic George Kenyon . Libraries & Museums . 1930 . E. Benn . 27.
4. [F. E. Halliday|Halliday, F. E.]
5. Book: Edward Hutton. Pietro Aretino: The Scourge of Princes. 1923. Houghton Mifflin. 229.
6. Book: John A. Wagner. Susan Walters Schmid. Encyclopedia of Tudor England. 2012. ABC-CLIO. 978-1-59884-298-2. 1120.
7. Daisy L. Neijmann A History of Icelandic Literature, p. 177.