1539 in literature

List of years in literature (table)
... 1529 ^. 1530 ^. 1531 ^. 1532 ^. 1533 ^. 1534 ^. 1535 ... 1536 1537 1538 -1539- 1540 1541 1542 ... 1543 ^. 1544 ^. 1545 ^. 1546 ^. 1547 ^. 1548 ^. 1549 ...
Art ^. Archaeology ^. Architecture ^. Literature ^. Music ^. Philosophy ^. Science +...

Events

April – Printing of the Great Bible (The Byble in Englyshe) is completed and it is distributed to churches in England.^[1] Prepared by Myles Coverdale, it contains much material from the Tyndale Bible (unacknowledged as this version is officially considered heretical).
date unknown
- Game Place House in Great Yarmouth becomes the first premises in England to be used regularly as a public theatre.^[2]
- Marie Dentière writes an open letter to Marguerite of Navarre, sister of the King of France; the Epistre tres utile, or "very useful letter", calls for an expulsion of Catholic clergy from France.
- The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City. The first known book from it, Manual de Adultos, is published in 1540.^[3]

February 27 – Franciscus Raphelengius, Flemish-born Dutch scholar, printer and bookseller (died 1597)^[4]
March 5 – Christoph Pezel, German theologian (died 1604)
April 12 – Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish Peruvian mestizo chronicler (died 1616)
December 5 – Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian (died 1604)
December 20 – Paulus Melissus, German writer in Latin, translator and composer (died 1602)
Unknown dates
- Jean de Tournes, French author, printer and bookseller (died 1615)
- Richard White of Basingstoke, English jurist and historian (died 1611)

March 5 – Kaspar Ursinus Velius, German scholar, poet and historian (born c. 1493)
May 7 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (born 1466)
July 5 – Saint Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian religious writer and leader of the Counter-reformation (born 1502)^[5]
August 10 – Lanspergius, German Carthusian monk and ascetic writer (born 1489)
November 25 – Johann Alexander Brassicanus, German author and teacher (died c.1500)
Unknown dates
- Ferdinand Columbus, Spanish bibliographer and cosmographer (born 1488)
- Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, Spanish author of an agricultural treatise (born 1470)

↑ Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 145–148. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
↑ Robertson, Patrick (1974). The Shell Book of Firsts. London: Ebury Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-7181-1279-2.
↑ "The Press in Colonial America" (PDF). A Publisher’s History of American Magazines — Background and Beginnings. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
↑ (Dutch) Some biographical information
↑ St. Anthony Mary's biography and his writings page on the Barnabite Fathers' North American website