15th century in literature Contents

The Boke of Seynt Albans, with a contribution attributed to Juliana Berners

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola – De hominis dignitate

1487

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  Niccolò da Correggio – Fabula di Cefalo
  
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  Heinrich Kramer with James Sprenger – Malleus Maleficarum, a witch-hunting manual
  

1489

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  Marsilio Ficino – De vita libri tres (Three Books on Life)
  

1490

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  John Ireland – The Meroure of Wyssdome^[17]
  
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  Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba – Tirant lo Blanch
  

c. 1490s

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  Jacomijne Costers – Visioen en exempel
  

1492

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  John of Gaddesden – Rosa Medicinæ (first printing; written 1307)
  

1493

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  Giuliano Dati – Lettera delle isole novamente trovata, a translation into verse of a letter from Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand of Spain, regarding Columbus' first exploratory voyage across the Atlantic in 1492
  
• 
  15 June: Hartmann Schedel – Nuremberg Chronicle
  

1494

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  Sebastian Brant – Ship of Fools
  

1496

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  Isaac Abrabanel – Ma'yene ha-Yeshu'ah
  
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  Juan del Encina – Cancionero
  

1497–1504

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  Pietro Bembo – Gli Asolani (three volumes on courtly love, first printed 1505)
  

1498

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  Annio da Viterbo – Commentaria super opera diversorum auctorum de antiquitatibus loquentium ("Antiquities", forgeries)
  
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  Polydore Vergil – Adagia
  

1499

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  Francesco Colonna (attrib.) – Hypnerotomachia Poliphili^[14]
  
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  Thomas of Erfurt (mistakenly ascribed to Duns Scotus) – De Modis Significandi printed (written in early 14th century)
  
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  Niccolò Machiavelli – Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa
  
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  Fernando de Rojas – Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as La Celestina
  
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  Polydore Vergil – De inventoribus rerum
  
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  Jehan Lagadec (ed.) – Catholicon, the first French dictionary (trilingual with Breton and Latin; compiled in 1464)
  

Undated

• 
  Krittibas Ojha (translator, d. 1461) – Krittivasi Ramayan
  
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  Kim Si-seup (1435–1493) – Geumo Sinhwa (金鰲新話, "Tales of Mount Geumo" or New stories of the Golden Turtle)
  
• 
  At least two of the Middle English versions of Ipomadon
  
• 
  Voynich manuscript (undeciphered, carbon dated to early 15th century)
  

Drama[edit]

• 
  c.1463–1475
  
  • 
    Probable date of composition of the "N-Town Plays" in The Midlands of England
    
• 
  1470
  
  • 
    Approximate date of composition of Elckerlijc, attributed to Peter van Diest (first printed 1495)
    
  • 
    Probable date of composition of Mankind
    
• 
  1492
  
  • 
    Juan del Encina – Triunfo de la fama
    
• 
  1493
  
  • 
    Ludovico Ariosto – La tragedia di Tisbe
    
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  c.1497
  
  • 
    Henry Medwall – Fulgens and Lucrece
    
• 
  Approximate date of composition
  
  • 
    The Castle of Perseverance
    
  • 
    The Somonyng of Everyman
    

Births[edit]

Palazzo Bembo on the Grand Canal (Venice), birthplace of Pietro Bembo

• 
  1405: 18 October – Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Italian erotic poet and novelist, later Pope Pius II (died 1464)
  
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  1406 – Matteo Palmieri, Florentine humanist and historian (died 1475)
  
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  1413 – Giosafat Barbaro, Venetian travel writer (died 1494)
  
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  c. 1426 – Bhalan, Indian Gujarati-language poet (died c. 1500)
  
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  1432 – Ōta Dōkan (太田 道灌, Ōta Sukenaga), Japanese samurai warrior-poet and Buddhist monk (died 1486)
  
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  1434: 29 August – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian/Croatian poet and bishop writing in Latin (died 1472)
  
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  c. 1435 – Johannes Tinctoris (Jehan le Teinturier), Low Countries' writer on music and musician (died 1511)
  
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  1441: 9 February – Ali-Shir Nava'i, Chagatai Turkic language Timurid poet and scholar (died 1501)
  
• 
  c. 1441 – Felix Fabri (Felix Faber), Swiss Dominican theologian and travel writer (died 1502)
  
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  1449 – Aldus Manutius, Italian publisher (died 1515)
  
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  c. 1451 – Richard Methley, English Dominican writer and translator (died 1527 or 1528)
  
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  1453 – Ermolao Barbaro, Italian scholar (died 1493)
  
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  c. 1460 – John Skelton, English poet (died 1529)
  
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  1462: September 8 – Henry Medwall, English playwright and ecclesiastical lawyer (died c. 1501/2?)
  
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  1465 – Yamazaki Sōkan (山崎宗鑑, Shina Norishige), Japanese poet (died 1553)
  
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  1470: May 20 – Pietro Bembo, Venetian-born scholar, poet and cardinal (died 1547)
  
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  c. 1473 – Jean Lemaire de Belges, Walloon French poet and historian (died c. 1525)
  
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  1475 – Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi, Italian calligrapher and type designer (died 1527)
  
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  1483: March 6 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman
  
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  1483: April 19 – Paolo Giovio, Italian contemporary historian, bishop and scientist (died 1552)
  
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  1485 – Hanibal Lucić, Croatian poet and playwright (died 1553)
  
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  1486: July 28 – Pieter Gillis, Flemish humanist, printer and Antwerp city official (died 1533)
  
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  1488 (estimated) – Otto Brunfels, German botanist and theologian (died 1534)
  
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  1490: Gáspár Heltai (Kaspar Helth), Transylvanian writer in German (died 1574)
  
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  1494: November (probable) – François Rabelais, French writer (died 1553)
  
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  1496: November 23 – Clément Marot, French poet (died 1544)
  
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  1497 – Edward Hall, English historian, politician and lawyer (died 1547)
  

Deaths[edit]

• 
  1400 – Jan of Jenštejn, archbishop of Prague, writer, composer and poet (born 1348)
  
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  1406: March 19 – Ibn Khaldun, North African historiographer and philosopher (born 1332)
  
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  c. 1416 – Julian of Norwich, English religious writer and mystic (born c. 1342)
  
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  1426 – Thomas Hoccleve, English poet and clerk (born c. 1368)
  
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  c. 1426 – John Audelay, English poet and priest (year of birth unknown)
  
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  c. 1430 – Christine de Pizan, French poet and author of conduct books (born 1364)
  
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  c. 1440 – Margery Kempe, English mystic and autobiographer (born c. 1373)
  
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  c. 1443 – Zeami Motokiyo (世阿弥 元清), Japanese Noh actor and playwright (born c. 1363)
  
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  1448 – Zhu Quan (朱|權), Prince of Ning, Chinese military commander, feudal lord, historian and playwright (born 1378)
  
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  c. 1451 – John Lydgate, English poet and monk (born c. 1370)
  
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  1454 – Francesco Barbaro, Italian humanist and politician (born 1390)
  
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  1458 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Castilian politician and poet (born 1398)
  
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  1464 – John Capgrave, English historian and scholastic theologian (born 1393)
  
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  1468 – Joanot Martorell, Valencian novelist and knight (born 1413)
  
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  1471 – Sir Thomas Malory, presumed English writer (year of birth unknown)
  
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  1472: 27 March – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian/Croatian poet and bishop writing in Latin (born 1434)
  
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  1475 – Matteo Palmieri, Florentine historian and humanist (born 1406)
  
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  1486 – Margareta Clausdotter, Swedish chronicler and nun
  
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  c. 1490 – Lewys Glyn Cothi, Welsh poet (born 1420)
  
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  1492 – Jami, Persian poet and scholar (born 1414)
  
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  1493 – Ermolao Barbaro, Italian scholar (born 1453)
  
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  1494 – Giosafat Barbaro, Italian travel writer, diplomat and explorer (born 1413)