1550 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1550.

Events

• June – Robert Estienne leaves Paris for Geneva, where he sets up a printing press.^[1]
• July 17 – King Edward VI of England gives Humphrey Powell a grant to start printing in Ireland.^[2]
• unknown dates
  • The first book in Slovene, Catechismus, is written by Protestant reformer Primož Trubar and printed in Schwäbisch Hall, Holy Roman Empire, followed by his Abecedarium.
  • Nostradamus' first almanac is printed.
  • The Chinese shenmo fantasy novel Fengshen Yanyi is first published in book form.^[3]

New books

Prose

• Leandro Alberti – Istoria di Bologna
• Martin Bucer – De regno Christi
• Thomas Cranmer – Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ
• Doddayya – Chandraprabha Purana
• Louis Maigret – Traité de la Grammaire française (the first grammatical description of French)
• Ramamatya – Svaramelakalanidhi (treatise on music)
• Richard Sherry – A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes
• Primož Trubar
  • Catechismus
  • Abecedarium
• The Facetious Nights of Straparola (the first European storybook of fairy tales)
• Giorgio Vasari – Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
• Rosary of the Philosophers

Drama

• Thomas Naogeorgus – Agricultura sacra
• Hans Sachs
  • Der fahrende Schüler im Paradies
  • Das Wildbad

Poetry

• See 1550 in poetry

Births

• December 22 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (died 1631)
• unknown dates
  • Wacker von Wackenfels, German diplomat, scholar and author (died 1619)
  • Zang Maoxun, Chinese playwright (died 1620)
• Probable year of birth – Philip Henslowe, Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario (died 1616)

Deaths

• February – Marcantonio Flaminio, Latin-language poet (born c. 1498)
• July 9 (probable date) – Jacopo Bonfadio, Italian historian, executed for sodomy (born c. 1508)^[4]
• December 8 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian poet, dramatist and grammarian (born 1478)^[5]
• unknown date
  • Eguinaire Baron, French legal writer (born 1495)^[6]
  • William Lamb alias Paniter, Scottish writer, cleric and lawyer (born c. 1493)