1590 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1590.

Events

• January – The Children of Paul's perform at the English Court twice in the first week; one of the plays act may be John Lyly's Midas. Later this year they are banned from performing over of the involvement of Lily, their chief script-writer, in the Marprelate controversy.
• unknown date – The Teatro all'antica at Sabbioneta (Italy), designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, is completed.

New books

• Robert Greene
• Greene's Mourning Garment
• Never Too Late
• Thomas Lodge – Rosalynde
• Thomas Nashe – An Almond for a Parrat

New drama

• Anonymous (approximate date)
• Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester
• King Leir
• Mucedorus
• Robert Greene
• The Comical History of Alphonsus, King of Aragon (approximate date)
• The History of Orlando Furioso
• The Scottish History of James the Fourth (approximate date)
• with Thomas Lodge – A Looking Glass for London (approximate date)
• Christopher Marlowe – Tamburlaine (both parts published)
• George Peele – Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First
• Robert Wilson – The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (published)

Poetry

• Sir Philip Sidney – Arcadia
• Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queene, Books 1–3

Births

• January 30 – Lady Anne Clifford, English literary patron (died 1676)
• March 18 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (died 1649)
• June 24 – Samuel Ampzing, Dutch poet (died 1632)
• July 26 – Johannes Crellius, German-born Polish theologian (died 1633)
• September 12 – María de Zayas, Spanish poet and dramatist (died 1661)
• October 11 (or December) – William Pynchon, English-born New England theologian (died 1662)
• unknown dates
• Alonso Andrada, Spanish biographer (died 1672)
• François Annat, French anti-Jansenist theologian (died 1670)
• Thomas Carve, Irish historian writing in Latin (died c. 1672)
• Faqi Tayran, Kurdish poet (died 1660)
• Grigore Ureche, Moldavian chronicler (died 1647)
• Théophile de Viau, French poet and dramatist (died 1626)

Deaths

• January 7 – Jakob Andreae, German theologian (born 1528)
• February 1 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian (born c. 1527)
• March – Petru Cercel, Wallachian prince and poet
• July – Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, French poet (born 1544)
• September 20 – Robert Garnier, French poet (born 1544)
• November 23 – André Thévet, French cosmographer (born 1502)
• November 29 – Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin, German poet and dramatist (born 1547)
• December 5 – Johann Habermann, German theologian (born 1516)
• probable
• Lambert Daneau, French theologian (born c. 1535)
• Giuseppe Leggiadri Gallani, Italian poet and dramatist (born 1516)

References