1521 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1521.
Events
- January 3 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther, by the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
- January 14 – Martin Luther writes to Johann von Staupitz, saying that he has burned the papal bull.
- February 9 – Íñigo López de Mendoza y Zúñiga arrives in Rome to campaign against Erasmus; later in the year he publishes an account of his journey from Spain.
- June – Neacșu's letter, the oldest surviving dateable document written primarily in the Romanian language, is approximately dated to this month.
- August 13 – Marko Marulić's poem Judita, a landmark in Croatian literature, is printed in Venice by Guglielmo da Fontaneto.
- unknown date – John Siberch is active in Cambridge, the city's earliest known printer.
New books
Prose
- Codex Ňuu Tnoo - Ndisi Nuu
- Jacopo Berengario da Carpi – Commentaria cum amplissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini, containing the first printed anatomical illustrations taken from nature
- Goražde Psalter
- Henry VIII of England – Defence of the Seven Sacraments
- Niccolò Machiavelli – The Art of War
- Piri Reis – ''Kitab-ı Bahriye''
Poetry
- Alexander Barclay – The Boke of Codrus and Mynalcas, the author's "Fourth Eclog"
- Henry Bradshaw – The Life of St. Werburgh
- Andrew Chertsey, The Passyon of Oure Lorde, translated from French with additional verses inserted and introductory poem by Robert Copland
- Christmas Carols, including "A caroll of huntynge" and "A carol bringyng in the bores heed"
- Robert Copland – Introductory verse to The Myrrour & the Chyrche
- John Skelton, "The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng"
Births
- May 8 – Peter Canisius, German theologian
- unknown dates
- *Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder, English statesman and poet
- *Xu Wei, Chinese painter, poet and dramatist
- probable
- *Anne Askew, English poet and Protestant martyr
- *Jorge de Montemor, Portuguese novelist and poet writing in Spanish
- *Pontus de Tyard, French poet and priest, a member of ''La Pléiade''
Deaths
- May 10 – Sebastian Brant, German satirical poet and humanist
- unknown date– Jean Bourdichon, French illuminator of manuscripts