1605 in literature

Events

• January 1 – The Queen's Revels Children perform George Chapman's All Fools at the court of King James I of England.
• January 6 – At the first performance of The Masque of Blackness at the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall Palace, the cast includes Penelope Rich and Lady Mary Wroth.
• January 7 – The King's Men perform Shakespeare's Henry V at court.
• January 8 – Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour is performed at court by the King's Men.
• January – the King's Men perform Love's Labour's Lost before Queen Anne.
• January 16 – The first part of Miguel de Cervantes' satire on chivalry, Don Quixote, claimed to be translated from Arabic by Cide Hamete Benengeli into dialects of Old Spanish, and printed by Juan de la Cuesta in 1604, is published by Francisco de Robles in Madrid. Most of the first edition is shipped to Spanish America. One of the first significant novels in western literary tradition, it becomes a global bestseller almost at once and new editions, authorized and pirated, are produced across the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the year.
• February 2 – The King's Men give a repeat performance of Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour at court.
• February 10 and February 12 – Performances of The Merchant of Venice are given at court.
• May 30 – John Spottiswoode becomes a member of the Scottish privy council.
• August 27–August 30 – King James I, Queen Anne, and their son Prince Henry visit the University of Oxford. Gentlemen from St John's and Christ Church colleges entertain them with a series of plays, including an early example of perspective scenery. The big success is Samuel Daniel's The Queen's Arcadia. Matthew Gwinne's Latin play Vertumnus puts James to sleep.
• October – Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg first appears. It is generally regarded as the world's first newspaper. De Nieuwe Tijdinghen, a Dutch proto-newspaper, is perhaps also published this year.

• Richard Rowlands publishes A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities concerning the most noble and renowned English Nation in Antwerp, including the first English-language telling of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
• Luis de Góngora has some poems published in an anthology.
• The Rose theatre in London is abandoned after its lease runs out.

  New books

Prose

• Anonymous – Ratsey's Ghost
• Johann Arndt – Vier Bücher vom wahren Christenthum
• Francis Bacon – The Advancement of Learning
• William Camden – Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine
• Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote
• Melchior Goldast – Suevicarum rerum scriptores
• Garcilaso de la Vega – Historia de la Florida

  Drama

• Anonymous
• *The Fair Maid of Bristow
• *The First Part of Hieronimo
• *The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe byrth, his great fortune
• *The True Chronicle History of King Leir
• *The London Prodigal
• Robert Armin and others – Fool upon Fool
• George Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston – Eastward Hoe
• George Chapman – All Fools
• Henry Chettle and Thomas Heywood – The Trial of Chivalry
• Samuel Daniel – The Queen's Arcadia
• Thomas Dekker and John Webster – Northward Ho
• Thomas Heywood – If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody
• Ben Jonson
• *The Masque of Blackness
• *
• John Marston – The Dutch Courtesan published
• Thomas Middleton – A Yorkshire Tragedy
• Samuel Rowley – When You See Me, You Know Me

  Poetry

• Samuel Daniel – Certain Small Poems
• John Davies of Hereford – Humours Heav'n on Earth

  Births

• June – Thomas Randolph, English poet and dramatist
• July 29 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymnist
• July 25 – Theodore Haak, German-born Calvinist translator and natural philosopher
• September 12 – William Dugdale, English antiquary and herald
• October 19 – Sir Thomas Browne, English writer and polymath
• November – François Combefis, French Dominican patrologist
• November 4 – Thomas Nabbes, English dramatist

• Walter Blith, English writer on husbandry
• John Gauden, English writer and bishop
• William Habington, English poet
• Sor Marcela de San Félix, Spanish poet, dramatist and nun

• Hugh Paulinus de Cressy, English church scholar

  Deaths

• March 26 – Jakob Ayrer, German dramatist
• April 6 – John Stow, English historian
• May – Edward Lively, English linguist and Bible scholar
• September 9 – Heinrich Khunrath, German alchemist and philosopher
• September 23 – Pontus de Tyard, French poet
• October 13 – Theodore Beza, French Protestant theologian

• William Haughton, English dramatist
• Lodewijk Toeput, Flemish painter and poet