1585 in literature
literature-related events during 1585
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1585.
Events
February 2 – Hamnet and Judith, twin children of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne, are baptised at Stratford-upon-Avon.
March 3 – The Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio, and completed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, opens with a production of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex), using trompe-l'œil scenery in one-point perspective.
December 13 – The blind poet, playwright and actor Luigi Groto dies in Venice, having just come from the theatre, where he has played the role of the blind Oedipus Rex.
At the order of the Inquisition, a collection of verses ("canczuni") in Italian and Maltese published by Maltese Dominican friar Pasquale Vassallo in 1584 is burned for its allegedly 'obscene' content.
New books
Prose
John Calvin – The Commentaries... upon the Actes of the Apostles, Faithfully translated out of Latine into English for the great profite of our countrie-men, by Christopher Fetherstone, student in divinitie
Miguel de Cervantes – La Galatea
Drama
Nicolas de Montreux – Athlette
Richard Tarlton (attributed) – The Seven Deadly Sins
Poetry
See 1585 in poetry
Thomas Watson – Amyntas (pastoral epic in Latin)
Births
January 6 – Claude Favre de Vaugelas, French grammarian (died 1650)
January 31 – Daniel Schwenter, German Orientalist, polymath, poet and librarian (died 1636)
March 16 – Gerbrand Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (died 1618)
June 24 – Johannes Lippius, German Protestant theologian, philosopher, and theorist of music (died 1612)
October 11 – Johann Heermann, German poet (died 1647)
December 4 – John Cotton, English-born American theologian and minister (died 1652)
December 13 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (died 1649)
Uncertain dates
Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, née Elizabeth Tanfield, English poet, translator and dramatist (died 1639)
Diego Jiménez de Enciso, Spanish dramatist (died 1634)
Deaths
January – Anthony Gilby, English Puritan and Bible translator (born c.
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