1612 in literature

The year 1612 in literature involved some significant literary events and new works.

Events

• January 6 – Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.^[1]
• January 12 – The King's Men and Queen Anne's Men unite for the first of two English Court performances in January, with Thomas Heywood's The Silver Age
• January 13 – The King's Men perform Heywood's The Rape of Lucrece.
• February 2 – Queen Anne's Men return to court to play Greene's Tu Quoque.
• May 11 – Shakespeare testifies in the Bellott v. Mountjoy lawsuit.
• November 6 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son and heir to King James I of England, dies of typhoid fever. His coterie of followers, which included literary figures like Ben Jonson and John Selden, are forced to seek other patrons.^[2]
• Thomas Shelton publishes The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha, the first English translation of Cervantes' novel Don Quixote (first part).
• Death of Carlos Félix, the favourite son of Lope de Vega.^[3]
• The Accademia della Crusca publishes the first dictionary of the Italian language.
• "Printers Bible": Some copies of the King James Version of the Bible printed in England this year contain an erratum with Psalm 119:161 reading "Printers have persecuted me without a cause" rather than "Princes have persecuted me..."

New books

• Traiano Boccalini – Ragguagli di Parnasso
• John Brinsley – Ludus literarius; or The Grammar Schoole
• John Davies – Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued
• John Davies of Hereford – The Picture of a Happy Man
• Edward Grimeston
  • The Generall Historie of Spaine (translated from French)
  • The General History of the Magnificent State of Venice
• Thomas Heywood – An Apology for Actors
• Antonius Magirus – Koock-boeck ofte Familieren kevken-boeck
• William Strachey - The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia
• Francisco de Quevedo – La cuna y la sepultura

New drama

• George Chapman – The Widow's Tears published
• Robert Daborne – A Christian Turn'd Turk published
• Nathan Field – A Woman is a Weathercock published
• Ben Jonson – Love Restored (masque)
• John Webster – The White Devil published^[4]

Poetry

• Michael Drayton – Poly-Olbion^[4]
• Luis de Góngora – Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea)
• Expanded edition of The Passionate Pilgrim
• George Wither – Elegy on the death of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Births

• February 6 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian and philosopher (died 1694)
• February 7 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (died 1683)
• February 28 – John Pearson, English theologian and scholar (died 1686)
• December 4 – Samuel Butler, English poet and satirist (died 1680)
• Unknown date
  • Edward King, English poet (died 1637)
• Probable year of birth
  • Anne Bradstreet, American poet (died 1672)
  • John Rushworth, English lawyer and historian (died 1690)

Deaths

• March 16 – Thomas Holland, English theologian and translator of the Bible (born 1539)
• April 11 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian (born 1535)
• July 29 – Jacques Bongars, French diplomat and scholar (born 1554)
• August 4 – Hugh Broughton, English Biblical scholar (born 1549)
• September – Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian music theorist and critic (born 1534)
• September 27 – Piotr Skarga (Piotr Poweski), Polish hagiographer (born 1536)
• October 7 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet (born 1538)
• Unknown date – John Gerard (John Gerarde), English botanist and author of herbal (born c. 1545)

References