1611 in literature

Events

• January 1 – Oberon, the Faery Prince, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace.
• February 3 – Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly, another Jonson/Jones masque, is also staged at Whitehall.
• May 2 – The Authorized King James Version of the Bible appears, printed in London by Robert Barker.
• May 11 – The first known performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, probably new this year, is given by the King's Men at the Globe Theatre in London.
• November 1 – The King's Men give perhaps the first performance of The Tempest, Shakespeare's last solo play, at Whitehall Palace.
• November 5 – The King's Men perform The Winter's Tale at Whitehall Palace.
• December 26 – The King's Men return to Court with Beaumont and Fletcher's A King and No King.
• December 27 – Queen Anne's Men act one of their most popular plays, Greene's Tu Quoque at Court, having previously performed it at the Red Bull Theatre.
• unknown dates
• *The last known traditional performance of an English mystery play is given at Kendal.
• *Dramatist Juan Ruiz de Alarcón returns to Spain from Mexico.

  New books

Prose

• The Holy Bible, Authorized King James Version
• Jacques Bongars – Gesta Dei per Francos
• Thomas Coryat – Coryat's Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c
• Randle Cotgrave – A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues
• John Donne – An Anatomy of the World
• Giolla Brighde Ó hEoghusa – An Teagasc Criosdaidhe
• Samuel Rowlands – The Knave of Clubs
• John Speed:
• *The Historie of Great Britaine
• *The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine

  Drama

• Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher – A King and No King
• George Chapman – May Day
• John Cooke – Greene's Tu Quoque
• Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton – The Roaring Girl
• Thomas Dekker – If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is In It
• Thomas Heywood – The Golden Age
• Ben Jonson
• *Oberon, the Faery Prince
• *Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly
• *Catiline His Conspiracy published
• Johannes Messenius – Disa
• Thomas Middleton – The Second Maiden's Tragedy
• Anthony Munday – Chryso-Thriambos
• William Shakespeare
• *The Winter's Tale
• *The Tempest
• Cyril Tourneur – The Atheist's Tragedy

  Poetry

• Richard Braithwaite – The Golden Fleece
• John Donne – An Anatomy of the World
• Emilia Lanier – Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum

  Births

• September 1 – William Cartwright, English dramatist
• October 22 – Jacques Esprit, French moralist
• October 26 – Antonio Coello, Spanish dramatist and poet
• unknown dates
• *Richard Alleine, English religious writer
• *Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, French writer on art and painter
• *Thomas Urquhart, Scottish translator
• probable year
• Jean François Sarrazin, French satirist

  Deaths

• February 8 – Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, Dutch historian
• March 11 – Giles Fletcher, the Elder, English poet and diplomat
• March 20 – Johann Georg Gödelmann, German demonological writer
• April 23 – Martin Ruland the Younger, German alchemist and editor of his father's writings
• June 8 – Jean Bertaut, French poet
• September 22 – Pedro de Ribadeneira, Spanish ecclesiastical historian
• unknown date
• *John Hamilton, Scottish Catholic controversialist