1556 in literature

Uncertain dates

• The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits at Saint Paul's College, Goa.
• The first written evidence of Yakshagana dance-drama is found on an inscription at the Lakshminarayana Temple, Hosaholalu in India.[1]
• Augustus, Elector of Saxony, establishes a royal state library in Dresden, predecessor of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

• March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and philosopher (died 1621)
• April 27 – François Béroalde de Verville, French novelist and poet (died 1626)
• July 25 (baptised) – George Peele, English dramatist and poet (died 1596)
• August 10 – Philipp Nicolai, German poet and composer (died 1608)
• November 25
  • Jacques Davy Duperron, French poet and cardinal (died 1618)
  • John Heminges, English actor and editor of the First Folio (died 1630)[2]

Uncertain date

• John Paul Nazarius, Italian theologian (died 1645)

• April 26 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and teacher (born 1490)
• May 7 – Hieronymus Andreae, German printer and publisher (date of birth unknown)
• July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (born 1491)
• October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian satirist (born 1492)
• October 31 – Johannes Sleidanus, Luxembourgeois historian (born 1506)
• November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Florentine poet (born 1503)
• December 23 – Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (born 1504)

Uncertain dates

• Fuzûlî, Ottoman poet and philosopher (born c.1483)
• Oddur Gottskálksson, Icelandic translator (born 1514/1515)[3]