1588 In Literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1588.

Events

*January 1 – The Children of Paul's perform at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England, probably acting John Lyly's ''Gallathea''.
* February 2 – The Children of Paul's return to the English court, probably with Lyly's ''Endymion''.
* February 28 – The gentlemen of Gray's Inn perform Thomas Hughes' play ''The Misfortunes of Arthur'' before Queen Elizabeth I of England, at Greenwich Palace.
*May–December – Lope de Vega serves in the Spanish Armada, where he begins writing his epic poem ''La Hermosura de Angélica''.
*November – Marprelate Controversy: The first tract by "Martin Marprelate", known as the ''Epistle'', appears at Molesey in England.
*Venice's Biblioteca Marciana is completed by Vincenzo Scamozzi on the Piazza San Marco after more than a century of construction following a plan by the late Jacopo Sansovino.
* John Dee finishes ''Libri mysteriorum I-XVIII'' (Spiritual Diaries).
*Welsh author Morris Kyffin publishes the first translation into English of a comedy by Terence, '' Andria'', in London. It is possibly the first printed English text to include an ellipsis (...) as a mark of omission.
*Agostino Ramelli publishes ''Le diverse et artificiose Machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli, Dal Ponte Della Tresia Ingegniero del Christianissimo Re di Francia et di Pollonia'' in Paris, including a design for a bookwheel to permit consultation of multiple volumes.
*1588–1589 – Earliest probable date for the composition and first performance of Christopher Marlowe's '' The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus'' in London.

New books

Prose

*William Allen – ''An Admonition to the nobility and people of England''
* John Dee – ''De heptarchia mystica''
* Robert Greene – ''Pandosto: The Triumph of Time''
*Thomas Hariot – ''A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia''
*Thomas Nashe – ''The Anatomie of Absurditie''
* William Rankins – ''The English Ape''
*Welsh Bible (translation by William Morgan)

Drama

*Thomas Hughes – ''The Misfortunes of Arthur''
* George Peele – ''The Battle of Alcazar'' (first performed)

Poetry

* Felipe Fernandez-Armesto – ''Two Prayers and a Sailor's Lilt Aboard the Spanish Armada''
* Heinrich Meibom –
* Jean de Sponde – ''Essai de quelques poèmes chrétiens''

Births

* April 5 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (died 1679)
*April 15 – Claudius Salmasius (Claude Saumaise), French classicist (died 1653)
*June 11 (probably) – George Wither, English poet and pamphleteer (died 1667)Probable birth date: Michelle O'Callaghan, "Wither, George (1588–1667)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004), Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
Retrieved 2 May 2017.
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*September 8 – Marin Mersenne, French theologian and philosopher (died 1648)
*October 16 – Luke Wadding, Irish Franciscan annalist (died 1657)
*''Unknown dates''
**Leonard Digges (writer), English poet and Hispanist (died 1635)
**Francis Higginson, English-born New England writer (died 1630)
**Johannes Maccovius (Jan Makovszki), Polish theologian (died 1644)

Deaths

* February 24 – Johann Weyer, Dutch demonologist (born c. 1515)
*March 29 – Christian Wurstisen, Swiss theologian and historian (born 1544)
*September 3 – Richard Tarlton, English actor (born 1530)
*October 2 – Bernardino Telesio, Italian philosopher (born 1509)
*November 1 – Jean Daurat, French poet (born 1508)
*''Unknown date'' – Sperone Speroni, Italian scholar and dramatist (born 1500)

References

{{Year in literature article categories
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Years of the 16th century in literature