1501 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1501.
Events
- Italic type is first used by Aldus Manutius at the Aldine Press in Venice, in an octavo edition of Virgil's Aeneid. Manutius also publishes an edition of Petrarch's Le cose volgari and first adopts his dolphin and anchor device.
- The first volume of Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first collection of polyphonic music printed from movable type, is published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice.
New books
Prose
- Desiderius Erasmus – Handbook of a Christian Knight
- Margery Kempe – The Book of Margery Kempe
- Nilakantha Somayaji – ''Tantrasamgraha''
Drama
- Conradus Celtis – ''Ludus Diannae''
Poetry
- Gavin Douglas – The Palice of Honour
- Marko Marulić – ''Judita''
Births
- February 24 – Sixt Birck, German humanist dramatist and scholar
- unknown dates
- *Bonaventure des Périers, French author and poet
- *Maurice Scève, French poet
- *Basilio Zanchi, Italian humanist Latin-language poet, scholar and librarian
- probable – Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish soldier and poet
Deaths
- January 3 – Ali-Shir Nava'i, Timurid dynasty philosopher and Chagatai language poet
- August – Constantine Lascaris, Greek scholar and grammarian
- September 26 – Džore Držić, Croatian poet and playwright