The year
1601 in literature involved some significant events.
- Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes was an English clergyman and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...
becomes Dean of Westminster.
- Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury , was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
meets Robert Carr, 1st Earl of SomersetRobert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , KG, PC , was a Scottish politician, and favourite of King James I of England whose involvement in the murder of his mentor, Sir Thomas Overbury, caused great scandal....
, and they become firm friends.
- Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist and poet.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara, Spain on January 21 1601...
enters the monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara, Spain.
- Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.-Biography:...
, imprisoned in Italy for revolutionary plotting, is judged insane and spared the death penalty. He is sentenced to life imprisonment, and begins to write The City of the SunThe City of the Sun is a philosophical work by the Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella. It is an important early utopian work.The work was written in Italian in 1602, shortly after Campanella's imprisonment for heresy and sedition...
.
- On February 7, the Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company at which William Shakespeare worked as an actor and playwright for most of his career. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently...
stage a performance of Shakespeare's Richard IIKing Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
at the Globe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.A modern...
.
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The year
1601 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes was an English clergyman and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...
becomes Dean of Westminster.
- Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury , was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
meets Robert Carr, 1st Earl of SomersetRobert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , KG, PC , was a Scottish politician, and favourite of King James I of England whose involvement in the murder of his mentor, Sir Thomas Overbury, caused great scandal....
, and they become firm friends.
- Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist and poet.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara, Spain on January 21 1601...
enters the monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara, Spain.
- Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.-Biography:...
, imprisoned in Italy for revolutionary plotting, is judged insane and spared the death penalty. He is sentenced to life imprisonment, and begins to write The City of the SunThe City of the Sun is a philosophical work by the Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella. It is an important early utopian work.The work was written in Italian in 1602, shortly after Campanella's imprisonment for heresy and sedition...
.
- On February 7, the Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company at which William Shakespeare worked as an actor and playwright for most of his career. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently...
stage a performance of Shakespeare's Richard IIKing Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
at the Globe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.A modern...
. The performance is specially commissioned (at a 40-shilling bonus) by the plotters in the EssexRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , was a military hero and royal favourite of Elizabeth I, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years' War in 1599, he failed in a coup d'état against the queen and was executed for treason.- Early life :Essex was born on 10 November...
rebellion of the following day, February 8. The plotters hope that the play, depicting the overthrow of a sitting monarch, will influence the public mood in their favor. (The plot fails.) Actor and company member Augustine PhillipsAugustine Phillips was an Elizabethan actor who performed in troupes with Edward Alleyn and William Shakespeare. He was one of the first generation of English actors to achieve wealth and a degree of social status by means of his trade....
is deposed by the Privy CouncilHer Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Its members are largely senior politicians, who were or are members of either the House of Commons or House of Lords of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The Privy Council, the...
on February 17.
- Philemon Holland
Philemon Holland was an English translator.His father, John Holland, was a clergyman who fled the Kingdom of England during the persecutions of Mary I of England...
publishes his translation of the Natural History of Pliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an author, naturalist, and natural philosopher as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. When he composes OthelloOthello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
in the next year of so, Shakespeare exploits the book for references, including the "Anthropophagi" and the "Pontic Sea."
New books
- Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas , Spanish historian, was born at Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia.-Biography:His father, Roderigo de Tordesillas, and his mother, Agnes de Herrera, were both of good family...
- Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos, volume 1
- Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success...
- The Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets
- Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius of Alexandria was a Roman era Greek writer whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the erotic romance The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon.-Life and minor works:...
- The Adventures of Leucippe and Cleitophon (first printed edition of original Greek text)
New drama
- Anonymous (Sebastian Westcote?) - The Contention Between Liberality and Prodigality
- Thomas Dekker - Satiromastix
Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet is a late Elizabethan stage play by Thomas Dekker, one of the plays involved in the Poetomachia or War of the Theatres....
- Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
- The PoetasterThe Poetaster is a late Elizabethan stage play, a satire written by Ben Jonson, and first performed in 1601. The play formed one element in the back-and-forth exchange between Jonson and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres of...
performed, Cynthia's RevelsCynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love is a late Elizabethan stage play, a satire written by Ben Jonson, The play was one element in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres between Jonson and rival playrwights John Marston and Thomas Dekker.-Performance:The play was first performed...
published
- John Lyly
John Lyly was an English writer, best known for his books Euphues,The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. Lyly's linguistic style, originating in his first books, is known as Euphuism.-Biography:He was born in Kent in 1553 or 1554...
- Love's MetamorphosisLove's Metamorphosis is an Elizabethan era stage play, an allegorical pastoral written by John Lyly. It was the last of his dramas to be printed.-Performance and Publication:...
published
- John Marston
John Marston was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods...
- What You WillWhat You Will is a late Elizabethan comedy by John Marston, written in 1601 and probably performed by the Children of Paul's, one of the companies of boy actors popular in that period....
- William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Twelfth Night, or What You Will
- Robert Yarington - Two Lamentable Tragedies published
New poetry
- Robert Chester - Love's Martyr. The volume also contained fourteen poems by other hands, including:
- William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- The Phoenix and the TurtleThe Phoenix and the Turtle is an allegorical poem about the death of ideal love by William Shakespeare. It is widely considered to be one of his most obscure works and has led to many conflicting interpretations. It has also been called "the first great published metaphysical poem". The title "The...
- Gervase Markham
Gervase Markham was an English poet and writer, best known for his work The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman first published in London in 1615.-Life:Markham was the third son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham, Nottinghamshire, and was...
- Mary Magdalene's Tears
- John Weever
John Weever , English poet and antiquary was a native of Preston, Lancashire. Little is known of his early life and his parentage is not certain...
- The Mirror of Martyrs, or The Life and Death of Sir John Oldcastle
Births
- January 8 - Baltasar Gracián
Baltasar Gracián y Morales, JS was a Spanish jesuit and baroque prose writer. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud .-Biography:...
, prose author (d. 1658)
- March 7 - Johann Michael Moscherosch
Johann Michael Moscherosch , German satirist and moralist, was born at Willstädt, on the Upper Rhine near Strasbourg. His bitterly brilliant but partisan writings graphically describe life in a Germany ravaged by the Thirty Years' War . His satires, which at times are tedious, also show an...
, satirist (d. 1669)
- June 5 - John Trapp
John Trapp, , was an English Anglican Bible commentator. His large five-volume commentary is still read today and is known for its pithy statements and quotable prose. His volumes are quoted frequently by other religious writers, notably Charles Spurgeon...
, Biblical commentator (d. 1669)
- July 17 - Emmanuel Maignan
Emmanuel Maignan was a French physicist and Catholic Minimite theologian....
, theologian (d. 1676)
- August 22 - Georges de Scudéry
Georges de Scudéry , the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet.Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provence...
, novelist, dramatist and poet (d. 1667)
- probable - François Tristan l'Hermite
François l'Hermite , was a French dramatist who wrote under the name Tristan l'Hermite. He was born at the Château de Soliers in the Haute Marche....
, dramatist (d. 1655)
Deaths
- January - Scipione Ammirato
Scipione Ammirato was an Italian historian.Ammirato was born at Lecce, in the kingdom of Naples. His father, intending him for the profession of law, sent him to study at Naples, but his own decided preference for literature prevented him from fulfilling his father's wishes...
, historian (b. 1531)
- March 13 - Henry Cuffe
Sir Henry Cuffe was an English author and politician, executed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, for treason.-Family connections:...
, author and politician (b. 1563) (executed)
- April 10 - Mark Alexander Boyd
Mark Alexander Boyd was a Scottish poet and soldier of fortune. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was from Pinkell, Carrick in Ayrshire. Boyd left Scotland for France as a young man. There he studied civil law...
, poet (b. 1562)
- August 19 - William Lambarde
William Lambarde was an antiquarian and writer on legal subjects.-Life:Lambarde was born in London. His father was a draper , an alderman and a sheriff of London. In 1556, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn...
, legal writer (b. 1536)
- September - John Shakespeare
John Shakespeare was a glover and whittawer , farmer and later an alderman in Stratford-upon-Avon.He was the father of William Shakespeare....
, father of William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(b. c. 1530)
- date unknown
- John Hooker
John Hooker or John Vowell was an English writer, antiquary and civic administrator. He wrote an eye-witness account of the siege of Exeter that took place during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. From 1555 to his death he was chamberlain of that city, though he spent several years in Ireland as...
, English constitutionalist (b. c. 1527)
- Gian Vincenzo Pinelli
Gian Vincenzo Pinelli was an Italian humanist from Padua, known as a savant and a mentor of Galileo. His literary correspondence put him at the center of a European network of virtuosi...
, humanist and book collector (b. 1535)
- probable - Thomas North
Sir Thomas North was an English translator of Plutarch, second son of the 1st Baron North.-Life:He is supposed to have been a student of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was entered at Lincoln's Inn in 1557. In 1574 he accompanied his brother, Lord North, on a visit to the French court. He served as...
, translator