1566 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1566.
Events
- September 2 – The stage collapses during a performance of Richard Edwardes' play Palamon and Arcite at Oxford, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Three deaths are caused. The show goes on and "the Queen laughed heartily thereat."
- Ordonnance of Moulins in France prohibits writing, printing or selling of defamatory books and requires all books published to carry a seal of state approval.
New books
Prose
Historia Caroli Magni Magdeburg Centuries, volume IX- François de Belleforest
- Diego de Landa – Relación de las cosas de Yucatán
- William Painter – Palace of Pleasure
- ''The Flower Triod''
Drama
- George Gascoigne – Supposes
- * – Jocasta
- ''Gismund of Salerne''
Poetry
- ''See 1566 in poetry''
Births
- September 1 – Edward Alleyn, English actor
- Unknown date – John Hoskins, English poet
Deaths
- January 6 – Jan Utenhove, Flemish translator
- March – António de Gouveia, Portuguese legal writer and humanist
- April 25 – Louise Labé, French poet
- July 13 – Thomas Hoby, English translator
- October 10 – Hentenius, Flemish biblical commentator
- October 31 – Richard Edwardes, English poet and dramatist
- unknown date – Alexius Pedemontanus, Italian physician and alchemist, author of a "book of secrets"