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.^[1]
January 14 – Martin Luther writes to Johann von Staupitz, saying that he has burned the papal bull.^[2]
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.^[3]
June (probably 29 or 30) – Neacșu's letter, the oldest surviving dateable document written primarily in the Romanian language (in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet), is approximately dated to this month.
August 13 – Marko Marulić's poem Judita (Judith, written 1501), 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.^[4]

Codex Ňuu Tnoo - Ndisi Nuu
Jacopo Berengario da Carpi – Commentaria cum amplissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini (published in Bologna), containing the first printed anatomical illustrations taken from nature
Goražde Psalter
Henry VIII of England – Defence of the Seven Sacraments (Assertio Septem Sacramentorum)
Niccolò Machiavelli – The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra)
Piri Reis – Kitab-ı Bahriye

Alexander Barclay – The Boke of Codrus and Mynalcas, the author's "Fourth Eclog"^[5]
Henry Bradshaw – The Life of St. Werburgh^[5]
Andrew Chertsey, The Passyon of Oure Lorde, translated from French with additional verses inserted and introductory poem by Robert Copland (published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^[5]
Christmas Carols, including "A caroll of huntynge" and "A carol bringyng in the bores heed"^[5]
Robert Copland – Introductory verse to The Myrrour & the Chyrche (published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^[6]

Approximate year

A boke of a Ghoostly fader (A Book of a Ghostly Father, published in London by Wynkyn de Worde)^[5]^[6]
John Skelton, "The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng"^[5]^[7]

May 8 – Peter Canisius, German theologian (died 1597)^[8]
unknown dates
- Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder, English statesman and poet (died 1565)
- Xu Wei (徐渭), Chinese painter, poet and dramatist (died 1593)
probable
- Anne Askew, English poet and Protestant martyr (burned at the stake 1546)
- Jorge de Montemor, Portuguese novelist and poet writing in Spanish (died 1561)
- Pontus de Tyard, French poet and priest, a member of La Pléiade (died 1605)^[9]

May 10 – Sebastian Brant, German satirical poet and humanist (born c. 1457)
unknown date– Jean Bourdichon, French illuminator of manuscripts (born 1457/9)

^ Michael M. Tavuzzi (1997). Prierias: The Life and Works of Silvestro Mazzolini Da Prierio, 1456-1527. Duke University Press. p. 80. ISBN 0-8223-1976-4.
^ Frederick Kiefer (1996). Writing on the Renaissance Stage: Written Words, Printed Pages, Metaphoric Books. University of Delaware Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-87413-595-4.
^ Desiderius Erasmus (1988). The Correspondence of Erasmus. University of Toronto Press. p. 454. ISBN 978-0-8020-2607-1.
^ George Watson; J. D. Pickles; Ian R. Willison (29 August 1974). The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 1, 600-1660. Cambridge University Press. p. 965. ISBN 978-0-521-20004-2.
^ a b c d e f Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.
^ a b "Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database – Tudor Poetry, 1500-1603". Academic Text Service (ATS). Stanford University Library. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
^ Reprinted in Skelton's Certain Books (1545).
^ Francis Sales Betten (1968). From Many Centuries: A Collection of Historical Papers. Books for Libraries Press. p. 121.
^ Marie Boas Hall (2 April 2013). The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630. Courier Corporation. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-486-14499-3.