1571 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1571.

Events

 * October 7 – Naval Battle of Lepanto: Miguel de Cervantes's left arm is rendered useless; Venetian playwright Luigi Pasqualigo commands a galleon.
 * unknown dates
 * Michel de Montaigne retires from public life and isolates himself in the tower of the Château de Montaigne.
 * First printing in the Irish language, Aibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma, a primer printed by John Kearney in Dublin.
 * Laurentian Library in Florence opens to scholars.
 * Edict of Gaillon in France places enforcement of censorship laws with the state Chancellor's office instead of the University of Paris.
 * A tidal wave affects parts of Lincolnshire, England. It would be the subject of Jean Ingelow's narrative poem "The High-Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire" (c.1883).

Prose

 * François de Belleforest – La Pyrénée (or La Pastorale amoureuse) (the first French "pastoral novel")
 * Bishop John Jewel – Second Book of Homilies
 * Alistair mac Riean -- "Ye Historie of Thomas Sincaet, a Pyrate."
 * Alonso de Molina
 * Arte de la lengua mexicana y castellana
 * Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana

Drama

 * Richard Edwards – Damon and Pythias

Poetry

 * See 1571 in poetry

Deaths

 * May 4 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian (born 1511)
 * May 29 – Joachim Mörlin, German Lutheran theologian (born 1514)
 * July 17 – Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (born 1516)
 * November 24 – Jan Blahoslav, Czech poet and translator (born 1523)
 * December 28 – John Hales, English writer and administrator (born c. 1516)
 * Unknown dates
 * Lodovico Castelvetro, Italian literary critic (born c. 1505)
 * Bartolomeo Maranta, Italian literary theorist (born 1500)
 * Andrés de Olmos, Spanish grammarian (born c. 1485)