15th century in literature

See also: 15th century in poetry, 14th century in literature, 16th century in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• 1403 – The Yongle Encyclopedia is commissioned in China.
• 1454 – Johann Gutenberg prints the Gutenberg Bible.
• 1476 – William Caxton sets up the first printing press in England, at Westminster.
• 1478 – The Ranworth Antiphoner is presented to St Helen's Church, Ranworth.

New books and first printings of older books

• 1405
  • Christine de Pizan – Le Livre de la Cité des Dames
• 1410
  • Thomas Occleve – The Regement of Princes
• 1413
  • Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York – The Master of Game
• 1420
  • John Lydgate – The Siege of Thebes
• 1429
  • Leone Battista Alberti – Amator
• 1434
  • Treatise on the Barbarian Kingdoms on the Western Oceans (China).
• 1436
  • The Marvels discovered by the boat bound for the Galaxy (China).
• 1450
  • Reginald Pecock – Represser of over-much weeting [blaming] of the Clergie
• 1453
  • Antoine de la Sale – Petit Jehan de Saintre
• 1461
  • François Villon – Grand Testament
• 1472
  • Johannes de Sacrobosco – De sphaera mundi (written c.1230), the first printed astronomical book
• 1473
  • Avicenna – The Canon of Medicine
  • Sir John Fortescue – The Governaunce of England (first published 1714)
  • Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474, a wall calendar, the earliest known printing in Poland
• 1475
  • Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, the first book printed in English, by William Caxton in Bruges
• 1477
  • William Caxton prints the first books in England on a printing press which he set up at Westminster in 1476
    • Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, a translation by Earl Rivers
    • History of Jason, a translation from the French of Raoul Le Fèvre by Caxton
  • Bible in duytsche ("Delft Bible")
  • First printed edition of The Travels of Marco Polo
• 1478
  • Geoffrey Chaucer – Canterbury Tales
• 1479
  • Rodolphus Agricola – De inventione dialectica
• 1481
  • Mirrour of the Worlde, a translation of 1480 by William Caxton, the first book printed in England to include woodcut illustrations
  • The Historie of Reynart the Foxe (first English translation)
• 1482
  • Mosen Diego de Valera – Crónica abreviada de España ("Crónica Valeriana")
  • Euclid – Elements (in Latin)
• 1484
  • Aesop's Fables, a translation by William Caxton
• 1485
  • Leon Battista Alberti – De Re Aedificatoria (written 1443–52 and published posthumously), the first printed work on architecture
  • Joseph Albo – Sefer ha-Ikkarim (written before 1444)
  • Sir Thomas Malory – Le Morte d'Arthur
• 1486
  • Dame Juliana Berners – The Boke of Saint Albans
  • Giovanni Pico della Mirandola – De hominis dignitate
• 1487
  • Niccolò da Correggio – Fabula di Cefalo
• 1489
  • Marsilio Ficino – De vita libri tres (Three Books on Life)
• 1490
  • Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba – Tirant lo Blanc
• 1493
  • Giuliano Dati – Lettera delle isole novamente trovata, a translation into verse of a letter from Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand of Spain, regarding Columbus' first exploratory voyage across the Atlantic in 1492
• 1496
  • Isaac Abrabanel – Ma'yene ha-Yeshu'ah
• 1498
  • Polydore Vergil – Adagia
• 1499
  • Thomas of Erfurt (mistakenly ascribed to Duns Scotus) – De Modis Significandi printed (written in early 14th century)
  • Niccolò Machiavelli – Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa
  • Fernando de Rojas – Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as La Celestina
  • Polydore Vergil – De inventoribus rerum

New drama

• 1470 – probable date of composition of Mankind

Births

• 1406 – Matteo Palmieri, Florentine humanist and historian (died 1475)
• 1413 – Giosafat Barbaro (died 1494)
• 1453 – Ermolao Barbaro (died 1493)
• c. 1460 – John Skelton (died 1529), English poet
• 1485 – Hanibal Lucić, Croatian poet and playwright (died 1553)

Deaths

• c. 1426 – John Audelay
• 1451 – John Lydgate
• 1454 – Francesco Barbaro
• 1471 – Sir Thomas Malory
• 1475 – Matteo Palmieri
• 1486 – Margareta Clausdotter
• c. 1490 – Lewys Glyn Cothi
• 1493 – Ermolao Barbaro (born 1453)
• 1494 – Giosafat Barbaro (born 1413)

See also

• 15th century in poetry
• Chaucer's influence on 15th-century Scottish literature