1564 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1564.

Events

• March 1 – Ivan Fyodorov with Pyotr Mstislavets print the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles (an Apostolos), the first printed work in the Russian language that can be dated, at the Moscow Print Yard.
• A new edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, authorized by the Council of Trent and printed in Venice, is promulgated.
• A chained library (librije) with access for the general public is established attached to the church of St. Walburgis in Zutphen (Netherlands); it will still be extant with its original fittings in the 21st century.

New books

Prose

• John Dee – Monas Hieroglyphica
• Magdeburger Centurien (Magdeburg Centuries), volumes VII and VIII
• Girolamo Maggi – Miscellanorum, seu Variarum Lectionum

Poetry

• See 1564 in poetry

Births

• February 26 (baptised) – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist and poet (died 1593)
• March 9 – David Fabricius, German theologian (died 1617)
• March 20 – Thomas Morton, English polemicist and bishop (died 1659)
• April 26 (baptism, traditional date of birth April 23) – William Shakespeare, English dramatist and poet (died 1616)
• Unknown dates
  • Jean D'Espagnet, French lawyer, politician and author (died c. 1637)
  • Kryštof Harant, Czech nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer (died 1621)
  • Henry Reynolds, English poet, schoolmaster and literary critic (died 1632)
  • Juan de Aguilar Villaquirán, Spanish writer and translator (died 1618)
• Probable birth year – Henry Chettle, English dramatist and pamphleteer (died c. 1607)

Deaths

• March 5 – Friedrich Staphylus, German theologian (born 1512)
• April – Pierre Belon, French naturalist and travel writer (murdered, born 1517)
• April 1 – Christoph Froschauer, Swiss printer (plague, born c. 1490)
• April 9 – Georg Hartmann, German humanist engineer, author and printer (born 1489)
• May 27 – John Calvin, French-born theologian (born 1509)
• August 11 – Edward Ferrers, credited as an English dramatist (unknown date of birth)
• September 26 – Theodor Bibliander, German theologian and publisher (plague, born c. 1505)