1626 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1626.

Events

 * February – The King's Men premiere Ben Jonson's satire on the new newsgathering enterprise The Staple of News, his first new play in almost a decade, at the Blackfriars Theatre in London.
 * November – The deaths of Lancelot Andrewes and Nicholas Felton, Bishop of Ely, prompt John Milton, then a student at Cambridge, to write elegies in Latin for both.
 * December 27 – Izaak Walton marries Rachel Floud (died 1640).

Prose

 * Francis Bacon – The New Atlantis
 * Nicholas Breton – Fantastickes
 * Alonso de Castillo Solórzano – Jornadas alegres
 * Robert Fludd – Philosophia Sacra
 * Marie de Gournay – Les Femmes et Grief des Dames (The Ladies' Grievance)
 * Francisco de Quevedo – El Buscón (first published edition – unauthorized)

Drama

 * Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft – Baeto, oft oorsprong der Holanderen
 * John Fletcher and collaborators – The Fair Maid of the Inn
 * William Heminges – The Jews' Tragedy
 * Jean Mairet – La Sylvie
 * Philip Massinger – A New Way to Pay Old Debts
 * Thomas May – Cleopatra
 * Thomas Middleton – The Triumphs of Health and Prosperity
 * Tirso de Molina – La Huerta de San Juan
 * James Shirley – The Maid's Revenge; The Brothers

Births

 * January – Robert Howard, English dramatist and politician (died 1698)
 * February 5 – Madame de Sévigné, French letter writer (died 1696)
 * March 12 – John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (died 1697)
 * July 25 – Gerard Brandt, Dutch dramatist and historian (died 1685)
 * September 8 – Simon Patrick, English theologian and bishop (died 1707)
 * October 6 – Géraud de Cordemoy, French historian, philosopher and lawyer (died 1684)
 * Unknown dates
 * Elizabeth Egerton, Countess of Bridgewater, English poet and dramatist (died 1663)
 * Alonso de Olmedo y Ormeño, Spanish actor and dramatist (died 1682)

Deaths

 * February – William Rowley, English dramatist (born c. 1585)
 * February 28 – Cyril Tourneur, English dramatist (born 1575)
 * September 25
 * Lancelot Andrewes, English scholar and bishop (born 1555)
 * Théophile de Viau, French poet and dramatist (born 1590)
 * October 19 (estimated) – Béroalde de Verville, French poet and novelist (born 1556)
 * December 8 – Sir John Davies, English poet (born 1569)
 * unknown date – Samuel Purchas, English miscellanist and travel writer (born c. 1577)
 * probable – Nicholas Breton, English poet and novelist (born c. 1545)