1540 in literature
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1540.
Events
- July 22 â Klemens Janicki is appointed poeta laureatus by Pope Paul III.[1]
- December 13 â John Standish's religious work A lytle treatyse is printed by Elisabeth Pickering, the first work known to be printed in London by a woman.[2]
- unknown dates
- The first known book from the first printing press in North America, set up in Mexico City, is published, Manual de Adultos.[3]
- Sir David Lyndsay's Middle Scots satirical morality play A Satire of the Three Estates is given a private first performance.
- Lazare de Baif travels with Pierre de Ronsard to Alsace, where they meet northern humanists.[4]
New books
Prose

- Garci RodrÃguez de Montalvo â Amadis de Gaula Book 1 (translated into French by Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts at request of Francis I of France)
- Hector Boece â Historia Scotorum (translated into Middle Scots by John Bellenden at request of James V of Scotland)
- Rösslin â The Byrth of Mankynde (De partu hominis, translation attributed to Richard Jonas) [5]
- Georg Joachim Rheticus â De libris revolutionum Copernici narratio prima (abstract of Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium)
Poetry
- Tontada Siddhesavara â Shatsthala Jnanamrita[6]
- Souterliedekens (Dutch metrical psalter dedicated to and perhaps compiled by Willem van Zuylen van Nijevelt)
Approximate year
- Sir Thomas More â Lady Fortune[7]
- Girolamo Schola â Capituli di M. Girolamo Schola sopra varii suggetti[8]
Births
- January 26 â Florent Chrestien, French satirist and Latin poet (died 1596)
- June 11 â Barnabe Googe, English pastoral poet and translator (died 1594)
- unknown dates
- Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, French soldier, historian and poet (died 1614)
- Rhys Cain, Welsh-language poet (died 1614)
- Frei Agostinho da Cruz (brother of Diogo Bernardes), Portuguese poet (died 1619)[9]
Deaths
- May 6 â Juan Luis Vives, Spanish humanist polymath (born 1493)This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vives, Juan Luis". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- May 22 â Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman (born 1483)
- October 5 â Helius Eobanus Hessus, German Latin poet (born 1488)
- October â Robert Redman, London printer[2]