1576 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1576.

Events

 * December – James Burbage opens The Theatre, the second permanent public playhouse in London (and the first to have a substantial life – 22 years), ushering in the great age of Elizabethan drama.
 * unknown dates
 * The composer Richard Farrant opens the first Blackfriars Theatre in London, presenting plays performed by the Children of the Chapel.
 * The composer Thomas Whythorne writes a Booke of songs and sonetts with longe discourses sett with them [sic], an early example of autobiographical writing in English.

Prose

 * Jean Bodin – Les Six livres de la République (The Six Books of the Republic)
 * Ulpian Fulwell – Ars adulandi, or, The Art of Flattery (dialogues)
 * Étienne de La Boétie (died 1563) – Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (Discours de la servitude volontaire, published as Le Contr'un)
 * George Pettie – A Petite Palace of Pettie His Pleasure
 * Peter Martyr Vermigli (died 1562; edited by Robert le Maçon) – Loci Communes
 * George Whetstone – The Rocke of Regard

Drama

 * Luigi Pasqualigo – Il Fedele
 * George Wapull – The Tide Tarrieth No Man published

Poetry

 * See 1576 in poetry
 * Tulsidas – Ramcharitmanas
 * The Paradise of Dainty Devices, the most popular of the Elizabethan verse miscellanies

Births

 * January 12 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian (died 1660)
 * May 27 – Caspar Schoppe, German controversialist (died 1649)
 * June 6 – Giovanni Diodati, Bible translator (died 1649)
 * October – John Marston, English dramatist and poet (died 1634)
 * October 30 – Enrico Caterino Davila, Italian historian (died 1631)
 * unknown dates
 * William Ames, English philosopher (died 1633)
 * Johann Bogermann, Dutch translator (died 1637)
 * Samuel Collins, theologian (died 1651)
 * Charles Fitzgeoffrey, Elizabethan poet (died 1638)
 * Goldastus, Swiss Calvinist historian (died 1635)
 * John Weever, English poet and antiquary (died 1632)

Deaths

 * January 19 – Hans Sachs, German poet and dramatist (born 1494)
 * February 10 – Wilhelm Xylander, German classical scholar (born 1532)
 * March 18 – Johann Stössel, German Lutheran theologian (born 1524; died in prison)
 * May 2 – Bartolomé Carranza, Spanish theologian (born 1503)
 * June 30 – Franciscus Sonnius, Flemish theologian (born 1506)
 * October 14 – Konrad Heresbach, Calvinist writer (born 1496)
 * unknown dates
 * Basil Faber, German theologian (born 1520)
 * Aloysius Lilius, Italian philosopher (born c. 1510)
 * Lancelot Ridley, English theologian
 * Mavro Vetranović, Croatian Benedictine poet and author (born 1482)