1580 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1580.

Events

 * March – Thomas Legge's Latin play about Richard III of England, Richardus Tertius, the first known history play performed in England, is acted by students at St John's College, Cambridge.
 * July 12 – The Ostrog Bible, the first complete printed Bible translation into a Slavic language (Old Church Slavonic), is first printed at Ostroh in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (modern-day Ukraine) by Ivan Fyodorov.

New books

 * Book of Concord
 * Jean Bodin – De la demonomanie des sorciers
 * Veronica Franco – Lettere familiari a diversi
 * Robert Greene – Mamillia
 * John Lyly – Euphues and his England
 * Michel de Montaigne – Essais
 * Anthony Munday – Zelauto

New drama

 * Robert Garnier – Antigone
 * Thomas Legge – Richardus Tertius

Poetry

 * Luís Vaz de Camões – Luís Vaz de Camões
 * Jan Kochanowski – Laments (Treny)

Births

 * March 5 – Christophe Justel, French scholar (died 1649)
 * April 18 (date of baptism) – Thomas Middleton, English poet and dramatist (died 1627)
 * June 9 – Daniel Heinsius, Dutch scholar (died 1655)
 * September 17 – Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish Golden Age writer (died 1645)
 * October 12 – Hortensio Félix Paravicino, Spanish poet (died 1633)
 * unknown dates
 * Charles François d'Abra de Raconis, French theologian (died 1646)
 * Manuel de Almeida, Spanish historian (died 1646)
 * Francisco de Araujo, Spanish theologian (died 1664)
 * Philipp Clüver, German historian (died 1623)
 * Ling Mengchu (凌濛初), Chinese vernacular writer (died 1644)
 * Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, Portuguese poet (died 1621)
 * Francisco de Lugo, Spanish theologian (died 1652)

Deaths

 * May 3 – Thomas Tusser, English poet (born 1524)
 * June 10 – Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet (born c.1524)
 * June 22 – Hernando de Acuña, Spanish translator (born c.1520)
 * August 20 – Jeronymo Osorio, Portuguese historian (born 1506)
 * October 8 – Hieronymus Wolf, German historian (born 1516)
 * November 3 – Jeronimo Zurita y Castro, Spanish historian (born 1512)
 * unknown dates
 * Sebastián de Horozco, Spanish poet and dramatist (born 1510)
 * Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, Scottish chronicler (born c.1532)
 * probable – Raphael Holinshed, chronicler