This A-to-Z encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference to the literary works, writers, and concepts of the Renaissance. Spanning the years from approximately 1500 to 1660 CE, this guide examines the history and development of literature as it flourished around the world during this period. Coverage includes not only European literature but also the people and works of China, India, Japan, the Islamic world, and the Jewish diaspora, as well as written and oral literature of the New World, Africa, and Oceania.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Writers Covered, by Language of Composition
• Authors’ Time Line
• A
• abhanga
• Abhanga gatha
• Abraham a Sancta Clara
• Abravanel, Jehudah ben Isaac
• Academy of the Cross
• Acosta, José de
• Actes and Monuments
• Adi Granth
• The Advancement of Learning
• The Adventures of Master F. J.
• The Adventurous Simplicissimus
• Against Marriage
• Agricola, Rudolphus
• Akbar the Great
• Akhā
• Akhegita
• al-Maqqari of Tlemcen, Ahmed
• al-Shirbīnī, Yūsuf
• al-Suyūtī, Jalāl al-dīn
• The Alchemist
• Aldine Press
• Alemanno, Yohanan Ben Isaac
• allegory in Renaissance literature
• alternative literacies
• Amadis of Gaul
• Aminta
• The Anatomy of Melancholy
• Andreini, Isabella
• Andromaque
• Annals of Cuauhtitlan in The Codex Chimalpopoca
• Annals of Tlatelolco
• Aragona, Tullia d’
• Arason, Jón
• Archevolti, Samuel
• Aretino, Pietro
• Ariosto, Ludovico
• Arrebo, Anders Christensen
• Ascham, Roger
• Ashley, Robert
• Astrophel and Stella
• ‘Atá’í, Nev’í-záde
• The Atheist's Tragedy
• atmanivedana
• Aubigné, Agrippa d’
• auto sacramental
• The Autobiography of Lorenzo de’ Medici the Magnificent: A Commentary on My Sonnets
• The Aztec Priests’ Speech
• B
• Bābur
• Bacon, Francis
• Bahinabai
• Baïf, Jean-Antoine de
• Bâkî
• The Balance of Truth
• Balzac, Jean-Louis Guez de
• Barclay, Alexander
• Bartas, Guillaume de Salluste, seigneur du
• Bartholomew Fair
• Bashō
• Battiferi, Laura
• The Battles of Coxinga
• Beaumont, Francis
• Bellay, Joachim du
• Bembo, Pietro
• Best, George
• Beyer, Absalon Pedersson
• Bhaktamala
• bhakti
• Bible in English translation
• Bible in European translations
• biblical tropes
• Bihari Lal
• biographers of Turkish poets
• The Birth of Christ
• Bittalnāth
• blank verse
• Boccaccio, Giovanni
• Boethius
• Böhme, Jakob
• Boiardo, Matteo Maria
• Boleyn, Anne
• The Book of the Courtier
• Bording, Anders
• Boscán Almogaver, Juan
• Botero, Giovanni
• Bourchier, John
• braggart warrior
• The Broken Heart
• Bussy d’ Ambois
• C
• Canzoniere
• The Carnal Prayer Mat
• The Castle of Perseverance
• Chaitanya Bhāgavata
• Chaitanyacharitamrita
• A Chast Mayd in Cheapside
• The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck: A Strange Truth
• A Comedy of Betrothal
• The Compleat Angler
• The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
• The Countesse of Montgomeries Urania
• D
• The Defence of Poesie
• The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World
• Discourse on Method
• The Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus
• The Divine Narcissus
• Dom Japhet of Armenia
• Dom Juan
• Don Quixote
• The Duchess of Malfi
• E
• English sonnet
• epic
• Epicoene, or The Silent Woman
• Epicurus
• epigrams in the Renaissance
• epistolary sonnet
• Epithalamion
• Erasmus, Desiderius
• Erauso, Catalina de
• Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de
• Erutacan
• Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit
• Exemplary Stories
• F
• The Fables of La Fontaine
• The Faerie Queene
• The Faithful Shepherd
• The Familiar and Invective Letters
• Faydī, Abu ‘L-Fayd
• Fehím
• Feng Menlong
• Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo
• Ferreira, António
• Ficino, Marsilio
• Finnish language and literature in the Renaissance
• Firenzuola, Agnolo
• Five Friends
• Five Women Who Loved Love
• Fleming, Paul
• Fletcher, John
• Fletcher, Phineas
• The Florentine Codex
• Florio, John
• Fonte, Moderata
• Ford, John
• Fortune in Renaissance literature
• Foxe, John
• Francis I
• Franco, Veronica
• Fries, Peder Clausson
• Fuzélî of Baghdad, Mehme ibn Süleyman
• G
• Galilei, Galileo
• Gàmbara, Veronica
• Garcilaso de la Vega
• Garcilaso de la Vega, The (El) Inca
• Gargantua and Pantagruel
• Gascoigne, George
• The Gelosi
• Gerhardt, Paul
• ghazel
• Globe Theatre
• Glückel von Hameln
• the golden age of Hindi language
• The Golden Lotus
• Gómara, Francesco López de
• Góngora y Argote, Luis de
• Gorboduc; or Ferrex and Porrex
• Gournay, Marie Le Jars de
• The Great Mirror of Male Love
• Greene, Robert
• Gregorian Calendar
• Greif, Andreas
• Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina von
• Greville, Sir Fulke, Baron Brooke
• Grimald, Nicholas
• Grimmelshausen, Hans Jacob Christoph von
• Guarini, Giovanni Battista
• Gul-Badan Begum
• H
• Hakluyt, Richard
• halacha
• Háletí
• Hall, Joseph
• hamartia
• Hardy, Alexandre
• Hátifí, ‘Abudu’lláh
• Henry IV, Part 1
• Heptameron
• Herbert, George
• Heywood, Thomas
• historic poems of Tonga
• Ho Kyongbon
• Ho Kyun
• Hobbes, Thomas
• Hoby, Thomas
• Hofmannswaldau, Christian Hofmann von
• Holinshed, Raphael
• The Holy Lake of the Acts of Rama
• The Honest Whore
• Hong Kiltong, The Tale of Ho Kyun
• Honnamma, Sañchiya
• Hooker, Richard
• Howard, Henry
• Huang Xiumei
• Huarochiri Manuscript
• Hubbi Qadin
• hubris
• humanism in the Renaissance
• humanist cursive handwriting
• humoral medicine
• I
• Ibn Iyās
• Icelandic linguistic law
• Icelandic poets, hymnodists, and preachers
• Icelandic translators, balladeers, annalists and biographers
• iconography
• image
• incunabula
• Index Librorum Prohibitorum
• inkhorn terms
• Inquisition
• interlude
• intertextuality
• Iphigénie
• Italian language in the Renaissance
• Italian sonnet
• J
• James I
• Jayisi, Malik Mohammad
• Jerusalem Delivered
• The Jew of Malta
• Jodelle, Étienne
• Jones, Inigo
• Jonson, Ben
• Joseph and Zelíkhá
• The Journey to the West
• K
• Kabir
• Kabir Granthavali
• karagöz
• Karo, Joseph Ben Ephraim
• Kathākali
• Kâtib Çelebî
• Kemalpasazâde
• Keshavdās
• Kháqání
• Khayriyya
• Kim Man-jung
• A King and no King
• King Lear
• Kingo, Thomas Hansen
• The Knight of the Burning Pestle
• Kong Shangren
• Korean alphabet
• Krishnadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmi
• Krishnadevaraya
• Kyd, Thomas
• Kynaston, Sir Francis
• L
• La Araucana
• La Fontaine, Jean de
• The Lady of Pleasure
• Lafayette, Madame de
• Lámi’í of Brusa
• languages of India
• L’Astrée
• Later Seven Masters
• Le Cid
• Legend of the Suns in The Codex Chimalpopoca
• Leland, John
• Les Tragiques
• Leviathan
• Leylá and Mejnún
• Li Dongyang
• Li Mengyang
• Li Panlong
• Li Yu
• Lianja and Nsongo
• liberal arts
• Life Is a Dream
• The Life of Benvenuto Cellini
• The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, His Fortunes and Adversities
• The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus by His Son Ferdinand
• literature in India in the Renaissance
• literature in the Korean language
• The Lives of the Artists
• Lo Guanzhong
• Lodge, Thomas
• Lope de Vega
• The Love Poems
• The Love Suicides at Sonezaki
• Lucretius
• The Lusiad: or The Discovery of India
• Luther, Martin
• Lycidas
• Lyly, John
• M
• Machiavelli, Niccolò
• magic in the Renaissance
• Magnússon, Jón
• Mahabharata
• The Maid's Tragedy
• Mairet, Jean
• Malherbe, François de
• The Mandrake Root
• Marguerite of Navarre
• Marinella, Lucrezia
• Marlowe, Christopher
• Marot, Clément
• Marston, John
• Marvell, Andrew
• Massinger, Philip
• master of the revels
• Medici, Lorenzo de’
• Meistersinger
• mesneví
• Messenius, Johannes
• metaphor in the Renaissance
• metaphysical conceit
• metaphysical poetry
• meter
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti
• Microcosme
• Middleton, Thomas
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Milton, John
• Mīrā Bāī
• miracle play
• The Misanthrope
• The Miser
• Mithradates, Flavius
• Molière
• Molla, Atukuri
• Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de
• Montalvo, Garci Rodríguez de
• Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans, duchesse de
• moralized geography
• More, Sir Thomas
• Morgante: The Epic Adventures of Orlando and His Giant Friend Morgante
• muses
• N
• Nabhādās
• Nábí
• Ná’ilí
• Nānak, Dev Guru
• Nandadāsa
• Nashe, Thomas
• Nature
• neo-Latin writing
• Neoplatonism in the Renaissance
• Nev’í
• A New Way to Pay Old Debts
• Ninety-Five Theses or Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences
• Nobili, Roberto de
• The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men
• Norton, Thomas
• O
• odes in Renaissance literature
• Omer
• On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church of God
• Opitz, Martin
• oral literature of Polynesian Oceania
• oral literature/tradition
• Orlando furioso
• Orlando innamorato
• Ovid
• P
• The Padumāvati
• Palladius, Peder
• Paradise Lost
• pastoral literature in the Renaissance
• Paternal Tyranny
• patronage
• The Peach Blossom Fan
• Pedersen, Christiern
• The Peony Pavilion
• periodic prose
• peripeteia
• Persian poets of the classical tradition
• Petrarch
• Petrarchism
• Phaedra
• Philips, Katherine Fowler
• picaresque
• Pico della Mirandola, Count Giovanni
• The Pilgrim's Progress
• Plato
• Platonic love
• Plautus
• The Play of Ollantay
• The Play of Saint Guglielma
• The Pleasant Historie of John Winchcomb, in his Younger Years Called Jack of Newberry, the Famous and Worthy Clothier
• Pléiade
• poetic justice
• Poetics
• Poliziano, Angelo Ambrogini
• Polyphemus and Galatea
• Popol Vuh
• The Praise of Folly
• The Prince
• The Princess of Cleves
• printing in the Renaissance
• prosody
• Protestant Reformation
• psychomachia
• Pu Songling
• Pulci, Antonia Tannini
• Pulci, Bernardo
• Pulci, Luca
• Pulci, Luigi
• Punishment without Revenge
• Purandaradasa
• Puritanism
• Q
• qasída
• R
• Rabelais, François
• Racine, Jean
• Raleigh, Sir Walter
• Ramayana
• Rambouillet, Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de
• Rasakallola
• Ratnākaravarni
• Regnier, Mathurin
• Religio Medici
• Renaissance drama
• Reply to Sor Philotea
• Reuter, Christian
• The Revenger's Tragedy
• Ritual of the Bacabs
• Roman comique
• romance
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Ronsard, Pierre de
• Rosenhane, Gustaf
• Rotrou, Jean de
• The Round Dance of Krishna
• Rowley, William
• Royal Commentaries of the Yncas
• rubá’i
• S
• Sackville, Thomas
• Sahagún, Bernardino de
• Saikaku
• Saint John's Eve
• Sankaradeva
• satire in the Renaissance
• Scarron, Paul
• Scève, Maurice
• scholasticism
• Scudéry, Georges de
• Scudéry, Madeleine de
• Sejong
• Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
• seven deadly sins
• Shakespeare, William
• Shakespeare's Audience
• The Shaking of Skull Caps
• Shi Naian
• shi poetry
• Shirley, James
• Sidney, Mary
• Sidney, Sir Philip
• Sīib of Tabriz
• Silent Operas
• Sommi, Judah Leone Ben Isaac
• songs in the Nahuatl language
• Sorel, Charles
• The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronymo Is Madde Againe
• Spee von Langenfeld, Friedrich
• Spenser, Edmund
• Stampa, Gaspara
• Stationers’ Company
• Stiernhielm, Georg
• stock characters in the Renaissance
• The Story of the Water Margin
• Strange Tales of Liaozhai
• Suckling, Sir John
• Süleyman I
• Sullam, Sara Coppio
• Sur-sagar
• Sūrdās
• T
• Tamburlaine the Great, Parts 1 and 2
• Tang Xianzu
• Tarabotti, Arcangela
• Tartuffe
• Tashköprü-záde family
• Tasso, Torquato
• Tausen, Hans
• The Tempest
• Terence
• terza rima
• textual criticism in the Renaissance
• Theaters in Shakespeare's Day
• theories of 17th-century Chinese drama
• Tirso de Molina
• ‘Tis Pity She's a Whore
• To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
• Toothless Satires and Biting Satires
• topos
• Tottel's Miscellany
• Tourneur, Cyril
• The Tower of Myriad Mirrors
• Toxophilus
• tragedy in Renaissance literature
• The Tragedy of Iñes de Castro
• The Tragedy of Miriam
• tragedy of the blood
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
• Traherne, Thomas
• translation in the Renaissance era
• The Trickster of Seville
• Tristan L’Hermite
• Tudor period
• Tukārāma
• Tulas’ādās
• The Twelve Towers
• Twenty Sacred Hymns
• Tyndale, William
• typology
• U
• Udall, Nicholas
• The Unfortunate Traveller
• unities
• University Wits
• Urfé, Honoré d’
• ‘Urfí of Shiraz
• V
• Vaishnava religious reform in India
• Valla, Lorenzo
• Vallabha
• Vasari, Giorgio
• vates
• Vaughan, Henry
• Vaux, Thomas
• Viau, Théophile de
• views on women in the Renaissance era
• Vijayavilasam
• Virgil
• virtues
• Vitthal
• Volpone
• vulgate Latin
• Vyas, Harriram
• Vyāsa
• W
• Walī
• Waller, Edmund
• Walton, Izaak
• Wang Duanshu
• Wang Jiaoluan
• Wang Shizhen
• Wang Shizhen II
• Webster, John
• The White Devil
• Wickram, Jörg
• Wilson, Thomas
• Wivallius, Lars
• A Woman Killed with Kindness
• women writers in India, 1500–1700
• The Wonderful Year
• Wroth, Mary
• Wu Cheng’en
• Wyatt, Thomas
• X
• Xu Wei
• Y
• Yahyá Effendi
• Yang Jishen
• Yang Shen
• Yu Tong
• Yuan Hungdao
• Z
• Zacuto, Moses ben Mordicai
• zazu
• Zithuwa Hymns
• Zwingli, Huldrych
• Support Materials
• Selected Bibliography