1540 in literature

	… 1530; 1531; 1532; 1533; 1534; 1535; 1536; ; 1537; 1538; 1539; 1540; 1541; 1542; 1543; ; 1544; 1545; 1546; 1547; 1548; 1549; 1550 …;
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1540.

Events

July 22 – Klemens Janicki is appointed poeta laureatus by Pope Paul III.^[1]
December 13 – John Standish's religious work A lytle treatyse is printed by Elisabeth Pickering, the first work known to be printed in London by a woman.^[2]
unknown dates
- The first known book from the first printing press in North America, set up in Mexico City, is published, Manual de Adultos.^[3]
- Sir David Lyndsay's Middle Scots satirical morality play A Satire of the Three Estates is given a private first performance.
- Lazare de Baif travels with Pierre de Ronsard to Alsace, where they meet northern humanists.^[4]

New books

Prose

De partu hominis

Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo – Amadis de Gaula Book 1 (translated into French by Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts at request of Francis I of France)
Hector Boece – Historia Scotorum (translated into Middle Scots by John Bellenden at request of James V of Scotland)
Rösslin – The Byrth of Mankynde (De partu hominis, translation attributed to Richard Jonas) ^[5]
Georg Joachim Rheticus – De libris revolutionum Copernici narratio prima (abstract of Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium)

Poetry

Tontada Siddhesavara – Shatsthala Jnanamrita^[6]
Souterliedekens (Dutch metrical psalter dedicated to and perhaps compiled by Willem van Zuylen van Nijevelt)

Approximate year

Sir Thomas More – Lady Fortune^[7]
Girolamo Schola – Capituli di M. Girolamo Schola sopra varii suggetti^[8]

Births

January 26 – Florent Chrestien, French satirist and Latin poet (died 1596)
June 11 – Barnabe Googe, English pastoral poet and translator (died 1594)
unknown dates
- Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, French soldier, historian and poet (died 1614)
- Rhys Cain, Welsh-language poet (died 1614)
- Frei Agostinho da Cruz (brother of Diogo Bernardes), Portuguese poet (died 1619)^[9]

Deaths

May 6 – Juan Luis Vives, Spanish humanist polymath (born 1493) This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vives, Juan Luis". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
May 22 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman (born 1483)
October 5 – Helius Eobanus Hessus, German Latin poet (born 1488)
October – Robert Redman, London printer^[2]

References

^ John Flood (8 September 2011). Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-bibliographical Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. p. 947. ISBN 978-3-11-091274-6.
^ ^a ^b Carole Levin; Anna Riehl Bertolet; Jo Eldridge Carney (3 November 2016). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Taylor & Francis. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-1-315-44071-2.
^ "The Press in Colonial America" (PDF). A Publisher’s History of American Magazines — Background and Beginnings. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
^ Weinberg, Bernard, ed. (1974). "Pierre de Ronsard". French Poetry of the Renaissance (5th ed.). Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8093-0135-5.
^ First printed book in English on obstetrics and first book published in England with engraved plates. Ballantyne, J. W. (October 1906). "The Byrth of Mankynde (Its Author and Editions)". The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire. 10 (4): 297–325. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.1906.tb12722.x. PMC 5413625. PMID 29612085.
^ Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (2002) [1955]. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0-19-560686-7.
^ Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860634-5.
^ "Poems on everyday things". Oxford: Bodleian Library. Archived from the original on 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
^ Preminger, Alex; Brogan, T. V. F.; et al. (1993). The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. New York: MJF Books/Fine Communications.

[1] John Flood (8 September 2011). Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-bibliographical Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. p. 947. ISBN 978-3-11-091274-6.

[Pickering-2] Carole Levin; Anna Riehl Bertolet; Jo Eldridge Carney (3 November 2016). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Taylor & Francis. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-1-315-44071-2.

[3] "The Press in Colonial America" (PDF). A Publisher’s History of American Magazines — Background and Beginnings. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2013-08-22.

[4] Weinberg, Bernard, ed. (1974). "Pierre de Ronsard". French Poetry of the Renaissance (5th ed.). Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8093-0135-5.

[5] First printed book in English on obstetrics and first book published in England with engraved plates. Ballantyne, J. W. (October 1906). "The Byrth of Mankynde (Its Author and Editions)". The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire. 10 (4): 297–325. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.1906.tb12722.x. PMC 5413625. PMID 29612085.

[6] Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (2002) [1955]. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0-19-560686-7.

[cocel-7] Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860634-5.

[8] "Poems on everyday things". Oxford: Bodleian Library. Archived from the original on 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2008-06-20.

[npepap-9] Preminger, Alex; Brogan, T. V. F.; et al. (1993). The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. New York: MJF Books/Fine Communications.

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