1596 in literature
Encyclopedia
Events
- The first complete edition of The Faerie QueeneThe Faerie QueeneThe Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
in six books is published. - James BurbageJames BurbageJames Burbage was an English actor, theatre impresario, and theatre builder in the English Renaissance theatre. He built The Theatre, the facility famous as the first permanent dedicated theatre built in England since Roman times...
buys the disused Blackfriars TheatreBlackfriars TheatreBlackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...
from Sir William More for £600; yet he is prevented from using it for theatrical productions by the opposition of wealthy and influential neighbors. - Lord HunsdonHenry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, of Hunsdon was an English nobleman.He was the son of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn and also the mistress to King Henry VIII of England...
dies on June 22; his place as Lord ChamberlainLord ChamberlainThe Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
is taken by William Brooke, 10th Baron CobhamWilliam Brooke, 10th Baron CobhamWilliam Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and a Member of Parliament for Hythe. Although he was viewed by some as a religious radical during the Somerset protectorate, he entertained Elizabeth at Cobham Hall in 1559, signalling his acceptance of the moderate regime.His...
. Unlike his predecessor, Lord Cobham is sympatheic to the Puritans and hostile to the actors of English Renaissance theatreEnglish Renaissance theatreEnglish Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
. With Cobham's allowance, the Lord Mayor of the City of London bans players from the city and tears down the inn-theatresInn-yard theatreIn the historical era of English Renaissance drama, an Inn-yard theatre or Inn-theatre was a common inn that provided a venue for the presentation of stage plays.-Beginnings:...
, the Bel Savage InnInn-yard theatreIn the historical era of English Renaissance drama, an Inn-yard theatre or Inn-theatre was a common inn that provided a venue for the presentation of stage plays.-Beginnings:...
, the Cross Keys InnInn-yard theatreIn the historical era of English Renaissance drama, an Inn-yard theatre or Inn-theatre was a common inn that provided a venue for the presentation of stage plays.-Beginnings:...
, and others. Fortunately for English literatureEnglish literatureEnglish literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, Cobham's service in the office is brief: he dies the next year, 1597.
New books
- Thomas HarriotThomas HarriotThomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
- Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia - Johannes KeplerJohannes KeplerJohannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
- Mysterium CosmographicumMysterium CosmographicumMysterium Cosmographicum, is an astronomy book by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler, published at Tübingen in 1596 and in a second edition in 1621... - Thomas NasheThomas NasheThomas Nashe was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret .-Early life:...
- Have With You to Saffron Walden - Sir Philip SidneyPhilip SidneySir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
- An Apologie for Poetrie (published posthumously)
New drama
- Anonymous - Captain Thomas Stukeley
- Anonymous - Edward IIIEdward III (play)The Reign of King Edward the Third is an Elizabethan play printed anonymously in 1596. It has frequently been claimed that it was at least partly written by William Shakespeare, a view that Shakespeare scholars have increasingly endorsed. The rest of the play was probably written by Thomas Kyd...
published - George ChapmanGeorge ChapmanGeorge Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
- The Blind Beggar of AlexandriaThe Blind Beggar of AlexandriaThe Blind Beggar of Alexandria is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It was the first of Chapman's plays to be produced on the stage; its success inaugurated his career as a dramatist.-Performance and publication:... - William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
Poetry
- Thomas CampionThomas CampionThomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...
- Poemata - Bartholomew GriffinBartholomew GriffinBartholomew Griffin was an English poet. He is known for his Fidessa sequence of sonnets, published in 1596.-Works:Griffin wrote a series of 62 sonnets entitled Fidessa, more chaste than kinde, London, 1596...
- Fidessa - Francisco Rodrigues LoboFrancisco Rodrigues LoboFrancisco Rodrigues Lobo was a Portuguese poet and bucolic writer.He was born of rich and noble parents but of Sephardi Portuguese ancestry in Leiria, reading philosophy, poetry and writing of shepherds and shepherdesses by the rivers Liz and Lena. He studied at the University of Coimbra and took...
- Romances - Edmund SpenserEdmund SpenserEdmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
- Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
Births
- March 31 - René DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
, French philosopher (died 1650) - August 18 - Jean BollandJean BollandJean Bolland was a Jesuit priest and prominent Southern Netherlandish hagiographer....
, Flemish Jesuit writer (d. 1665) - September - James ShirleyJames ShirleyJames Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
, English dramatist (died 1666) - September 4 - Constantijn HuygensConstantijn HuygensConstantijn Huygens , was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.-Biography:...
, Dutch poet (died 1687) - date unknown
- Moses AmyrautMoses AmyrautMoses Amyraut , also known as Amyraldus, was a French Protestant theologian and metaphysician. He is perhaps most noted for his modifications to Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Christ's atonement, which is referred to as Amyraldism or Amyraldianism.-Life:Born at Bourgueil, in the valley...
, French Protestant theologian (died 1664) - Lucas HolsteniusLucas HolsteniusLucas Holstenius was the Latinized name of Lukas Holste , German Catholic humanist, geographer and historian.-Life:...
, German humanist (died 1661)
- Moses Amyraut
Deaths
- February 17 - Friedrich SylburgFriedrich SylburgFriedrich Sylburg was a German classical scholar.The son of a farmer, he was born at Wetter near Marburg. He studied at Marburg, Jena, Geneva, and, lastly, Paris, where his teacher was Henry Estienne , to whose great Greek Thesaurus Sylburg afterwards made important contributions.Returning to...
, German classical scholar (born 1536) - August - Hamnet ShakespeareHamnet ShakespeareHamnet Shakespeare was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and the fraternal twin of Judith Shakespeare. He died at age 11 of unknown causes. There are several theories on the relationship, if any, between Hamnet and his father's later play Hamlet...
, son of William (born 1585) - October 3 - Florent ChrestienFlorent ChrestienFlorent Chrestien was a French satirist and Latin poet.Chrestien was the son of Guillaume Chrestien, an eminent French physician and writer on physiology, was born at Orléans. A pupil of Henri Estienne, the Hellenist, at an early age he was appointed tutor to Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV,...
, French writer (b. 1541) - November 1 - Pierre PithouPierre PithouPierre Pithou was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus.He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young Pithou was called to the Paris bar in 1560...
, French lawyer and scholar (born 1539) - date unknown
- Thoinot ArbeauThoinot ArbeauThoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot . Tabourot is most famous for his Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance...
, French priest and writer (born 1519) - George PeeleGeorge PeeleGeorge Peele , was an English dramatist.-Life:Peele was christened on 25 July 1556. His father, who appears to have belonged to a Devonshire family, was clerk of Christ's Hospital, and wrote two treatises on bookkeeping...
, dramatist (born 1556) - Blaise de VigenèreBlaise de VigenèreBlaise de Vigenère was a French diplomat and cryptographer. The Vigenère cipher is so named due to the cipher being incorrectly attributed to him in the 19th century....
, French cryptographer, diplomat, scientist, and author (born 1523) - Henry WillobieHenry WillobieHenry Willobie is the supposed author of a 1594 poem called Willobie his Avisa , whose main claim to fame is a possible connection with William Shakespeare's personal life....
, English poet (born 1575)
- Thoinot Arbeau