| Timeline |
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| 1340 CE | Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1340/43-1400), English poet, the son of John Chaucer, a vintner, was born in London. He later begins the literary tradition with his Canterbury Tales. | |
| c. 1392 CE | Sir Jean Froissart authored 'The Chronicles of England, France and Scotland'. | |
| 25 Oct 1400 CE | Author Geoffrey Chaucer died in London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. | |
| c. 1500 CE | (Between 1500-1600) 'Hsi Yu Chi' was a 16th century Chinese novel based on the account of a 7th century monk, Tripitaka, who traveled to India for 16 years for Buddhist scriptures. | |
| 1500 CE | Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist scholar, published his 'Adagia'. | |
| c. 1500 CE | (Between 1500-1600) The first Russian book printed was the 15th century 'Apostle'. | |
| 1509 CE | Erasmus lectured at Cambridge and dedicated his 'In Praise of Folly', a witty satire on church corruption and scholastic philosophy, to Thomas More. | |
| 1509 CE | Sebastian Brant's 'Ship of Fools', a satire first published in 1494, appeared in an English version by Alexander Barclay. | |
| c. 1510 CE | Alexander Barcley wrote his long poetic essay on the 'Miseries of Courtiers'. It described the psychology of feasting. | |
| 1513 CE | Niccolo Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' in which he gave reasons for the rise and fall of states. It was not published until 1532. He justified the ruthless subjection of religion and morality to politics. | |
| 1515 CE | Alexander Barclay began composing his 'Eclogues', the earliest pastoral poems in English. | |
| 1516 CE | Thomas More published his 'Utopia', the 'golden little book' that invented a literary-world immune from the evils of Europe, where all citizens were equal and believed in a good and just God. | |
| 1519 CE | Gil Vicente, Portuguese dramatist, wrote a second farce, 'The Ship of Heaven'. | |
| 1520 CE | The book 'Prester John of the Indies' was written. It was translated in 1810. Later Robert Silverberg wrote: 'The Realm of Prester John' and John Buchanon wrote 'Prester John'. In 1952 the French work 'Le Pretre Jean' was written. | |
| 1520 CE | King Francis founded the Royal Library of France at Fountainebleu. | |
| 1524 CE | Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), was born. He established the use of the vernacular in French verse. | |
| 1527 CE | Machiavelli, Italian writer, author of 'The Prince', died. 'When the effect is good... it will always excuse the deed'. | |
| 1528 CE | Baldassare Castiglione published 'Il Libro del Cortegiano', an exhaustive study of etiquette and court life that was read and copied throughout Europe. | |
| 1530 CE | Brunfels published 'Herbarium Vivae Eicones' which was the first newly written and printed botanical book. | |
| 1531 CE | Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist and scholar, published the first complete edition of Aristotle's works. | |
| 1531 CE | Andrea Alciati published the 'Emblemata', the first and most influential emblem book. | |
| 1532 CE | Francois Rabelais, French satirist, published 'Pantagruel', a grotesque and humorous satire on almost every aspect of contemporary religion and culture. | |
| 1532 CE | Ludovico Ariosto, Italian Renaissance poet, published the third and last edition of his epic poem, Orlando Furioso. This skeptical and humorous work about legendary chivalry later influenced the writing of Edmund Spenser and Miguel de Cervantes. | |
| 1535 CE | Rabelais published the second edition of 'Gargantua'. It was published after Pantagruel even though it was the first part of the two part work. | |
| 1537 CE | Gerhardus Mercator, Flemish geographer, established a business as globe and map maker. | |
| 1537 CE | The complete works of Cicero, 'Opera Omnia', was published in Venice in four volumes. | |
| 1545 CE | Benvenuto Cellini, Italian goldsmith, wrote his autobiography. | |
| 1545 CE | Conrad von Gesner, Swiss naturalist, published the first volume of his 'Bibliotheca Universalis', a catalogue of all the writers who ever lived. | |
| 1546 CE | The Farnese Hours manuscript was illuminated by Giulio Clovio. | |
| 23 Apr 1547 CE | Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, was born. | |
| 1549 CE | La Pleiade, a group of 7 French poets, established the Alexandrine metre of a 12-syllable line. Pierre de Ronsard was in the group. | |
| 1549 CE | Giorgio Vasari wrote the first biography of Leonardo da Vinci. | |
| 1550 CE | Giorgio Vasari, Italian architect and painter, published his definitive 'Lives of the Artists', and founded the Fine Arts Academy in Florence. | |
| 1550 CE | William Shakespeare (1550-1615) was born in England and authored about thirty-five plays. | |
| 1552 CE | (1552-1599) Edmund Spencer, helped establish the form of modern English in literature. | |
| 1552 CE | Etienne Jodelle, French dramatist, completed his 'Cleopatre Captive', the first French neoclassical tragedy. | |
| 1553 CE | Virgil's 'Aeniad' was translated into English for the first time. | |
| 1553 CE | Pierre Belon, French naturalist and traveler, wrote 'Les Observations de Plusieurs Singularitez et Choses Memorables'. It included an account of Turkish fruit sorbets. | |
| 1553 CE | Christopher Tye composed 'The Acts of the Apostles'. | |
| 30 Nov 1554 CE | Sir Philip Sidney, poet, was born. | |
| 1554 CE | Jorg Wickram, German writer, wrote the first German romance novel: 'Der Goldfaden'. | |
| 1554 CE | Palladio wrote 'L'Antichita', a guidebook to Roman antiquities. | |
| 1554 CE | Palestrina composed his first book of Masses. | |
| 1555 CE | Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636), painter and master of calligraphy, was born. He also mastered the play of void and presence at the heart of Chinese ink painting. | |
| 1555 CE | Pierre Belon, French naturalist, published the first comprehensive study of birds in 'L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux'. | |
| 1555 CE | The first Aztec dictionary was published. | |
| 1555 CE | Guillaume Rondelet wrote a classic taxonomy of fishes. His categories, based on general shape and habitation, precluded any deep insight into a genealogical basis of historical order. | |
| 1558 CE | Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian artist, published his 'Natural Magic', the first published account of the use of the camera obscura as an aid to artists. | |
| 1558 CE | John Knox published his 'The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women'. | |
| 1560 CE | Hsu Wei wrote the first classic Chinese novel, 'Ching Ping Mei'. | |
| 1562 CE | William Turner published a survey of spas in Europe. | |
| 1563 CE | Gerardus Mercator, Flemish geographer, produced the first detailed map of Lorraine. | |
| 1563 CE | Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs' appeared in its first illustrated English edition. | |
| 26 Apr 1564 CE | William Shakespeare was baptized. | |
| 1564 CE | Christopher Marlowe, dramatist and author of 'Dr Faustus', was baptized. | |
| 1565 CE | Pencils were invented and first manufactured in England. | |
| 1566 CE | One of the world's first newspapers, 'Notizie Scritte', appeared in Venice. | |
| 5 Sep 1568 CE | Tommasso Campanella (1568-?), Italian philosopher and poet, who wrote 'City of the Sun', was born. | |
| 1569 CE | Alfonso de Ercilla y Zuniga published about this time the first part of a Spanish epic on the conquest of Chile, 'La Araucana'. | |
| 1570 CE | Egidius Coppens publishes Abraham Ortelius' 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'. | |
| 1570 CE | The Scholemaster', a treatise on education by the English scholar Roger Ascham, was published posthumously. | |
| 1572 CE | Ben Jonson (1572-1637), English dramatist and poet, was born: 'Very few men are wise by their own counsel; or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself, had a fool to his master'. | |
| 1572 CE | Luis Vaz de Camoes, Portuguese poet, published his epic poem about Vasco da Gama's voyages: 'Os Lusiadas'. | |
| 1574 CE | Justus Lipsius, Flemish scholar, edited 'The Histories and The Annals of Tacitus'. | |
| 1575 CE | Torquatto Tasso, Italian poet, wrote 'Jerusalem Liberated', an epic of the First Crusade. | |
| 1576 CE | Jean Bodin, French political theorist, published his Six Books of the Commonwealth, wherein he argues that the basis of any society is the family. | |
| 1577 CE | Robert Burton (1577-1640), English author, was born. | |
| 1577 CE | Raphael Holinshed published his 'Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland'. | |
| 1578 CE | John Lely, English dramatist and novelist, began 'Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wit', an early novel of manners. | |
| 1579 CE | The biographies of noble Greeks and Romans of the first and second centuries AD, 'Plutarch's Lives', were translated into English from the French. | |
| 1580 CE | Michel de Montaigne, French scholar and nobleman, wrote his personal essays entitled 'essais'. | |
| 18 Jun 1581 CE | Sir Thomas Overbury, English poet and courtier who became involved in numerous scandals in London, was born. | |
| 1582 CE | Sir Philip Sidney completed his collection of sonnets on one theme, 'Astrophil and Stella'. He also wrote his 'Defense of Poetry' about this time. | |
| 1582 CE | Richard Hakluyt, English clergyman and geographer, wrote 'Divers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America'. | |
| 1587 CE | A collection of stories about the ancient magi appeared. These stories had been retold during the Middle Ages about such reputed wizards as Merlin, Albertus Magnus, and Roger Bacon. | |
| 1587 CE | Johann Spies completed the 'Historia von D. Johann Fausten', the first published version of the Faust legend. | |
| 1588 CE | The first shorthand manual, 'An Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character', was published by English clergyman Timothy Bright. | |
| 1588 CE | Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653), author of 'Patriarcha', a vindication of the absolute right of kingship, was born. The book was used in the 1670s to shore up proponents for the so-called divine right of kings. | |
| 1589 CE | Thomas Nashe, English satirical pamphleteer and dramatist, wrote 'Anatomie of Absurdities', a criticism of contemporary literature. | |
| 1589 CE | Richard Hakluyt wrote the 'Principle Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation'. | |
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