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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.
  • The first written evidence of Yakshagana dance-drama is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple, Hosaholalu in India.
  • Augustus, Elector of Saxony, establishes a royal state library in Dresden, predecessor of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • Unknown dates
  • Fuzûlî, Ottoman poet and philosopher (born c.1483)
  • Oddur Gottskálksson, Icelandic translator (born 1514/1515)

References