1572 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1572.

Events

 * January 3 – James Burbage, on behalf of Leicester's Men, writes to their patron, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, requesting that they be given the special status of "household servants".
 * unknown dates
 * Vagabonds Act in England prescribes punishment for rogues. This includes actors' companies lacking formal patronage.
 * George Gascoigne becomes a "soldier of fortune" in the Low Countries.

New books

 * Remy Belleau – La Bergerie (2nd edition)
 * Rafael Bombelli – L'Algebra
 * John Field – A View of Popish Abuses yet remaining in the English Church
 * Libro d'Oro of Corfu
 * Bishops' Bible (revised version)

New drama

 * Jean de la Taille – Saül le furieux

Poetry

 * Luís de Camões – Os Lusiadas
 * Fernando de Herrera – Canción por la Victoria del Señor don Juan
 * Thomas Palfreyman – Divine Meditations

Births
Unknown date – James Mabbe, English scholar, poet and translator (died 1642)
 * January 7 – Antoine de Gaudier, French Jesuit theologian (died 1622)
 * January 22 (earliest possible date) – John Donne, English poet and Dean of St Paul's (died 1631)
 * June 11 (approximate) – Ben Jonson, English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor (died 1637)
 * July 25 – Theodorus Schrevelius, Dutch Golden Age poet (died 1649)

Deaths

 * March 27 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian poet and polymath (born c. 1523)
 * April 12 – Jean Crespin, French martyrologist and printer (born c. 1520)
 * June 28 – Johannes Goropius Becanus, Dutch humanist writer and linguist (born 1519)
 * September 23 – Henry Scrimgeour, Scottish diplomat and book collector (born 1505)
 * September – Denis Lambin, French classicist (born 1520)