1590 in literature

Events

• January – The Children of Paul's perform at the English Court twice in the first week; one of the plays act may be John Lyly's Midas. Later this year they are banned from performing over of the involvement of Lily, their chief script-writer, in the Marprelate controversy.
• unknown date – The Teatro all'antica at Sabbioneta, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, is completed.

  New books

• Robert Greene
• *Greene's Mourning Garment
• *Never Too Late
• Thomas Lodge – Rosalynde
• Thomas Nashe – An Almond for a Parrat

  New drama

• Anonymous
• *Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester
• *King Leir
• *Mucedorus
• Robert Greene
• *The Comical History of Alphonsus, King of Aragon
• *The History of Orlando Furioso
• *The Scottish History of James the Fourth
• *with Thomas Lodge – A Looking Glass for London
• Christopher Marlowe – Tamburlaine
• George Peele – Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First
• Robert Wilson – The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London

  Poetry

• Sir Philip Sidney – Arcadia
• Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queene, Books 1-3

  Births

• January 30 – Lady Anne Clifford, English literary patron
• March 18 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet
• June 24 – Samuel Ampzing, Dutch poet
• July 26 – Johannes Crellius, German-born Polish theologian
• September 12 – María de Zayas, Spanish poet and dramatist
• October 11 – William Pynchon, English-born New England theologian
• unknown dates
• *Alonso Andrada, Spanish biographer
• *François Annat, French anti-Jansenist theologian
• *Thomas Carve, Irish historian writing in Latin
• *Faqi Tayran, Kurdish poet
• *Grigore Ureche, Moldavian chronicler
• *Théophile de Viau, French poet and dramatist

  Deaths

• January 7 – Jakob Andreae, German theologian
• February 1 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian
• March – Petru Cercel, Wallachian prince and poet
• July – Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, French poet
• September 20 – Robert Garnier, French poet
• November 23 – André Thévet, French cosmographer
• November 29 – Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin, German poet and dramatist
• December 5 – Johann Habermann, German theologian
• probable
• *Lambert Daneau, French theologian
• *Giuseppe Leggiadri Gallani, Italian poet and dramatist