1641 in literature

	… 1631; 1632; 1633; 1634; 1635; 1636; 1637; ; 1638; 1639; 1640; 1641; 1642; 1643; 1644; ; 1645; 1646; 1647; 1648; 1649; 1650; 1651 …;
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1641.

Events

March 12 – Abraham Cowley's play The Guardian is acted at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the presence of Prince Charles (later King Charles II).^[1]
Spring – Pierre Corneille marries Marie de Lampérière.^[2]
c. May – William Davenant is convicted of high treason for his part in the First Army Plot in England.
August 5 – Because of an increase in cases of plague, John Lowin delivers warrants to London theatres ordering them to close.^[3]
c. December – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, becomes an advisor to King Charles I of England.

George Abbot – Vindiciae Sabbathi
Moses Amyraut – De l'elevation de la foy et de l'abaissement de la raison en la creance des mysteres de la religion
Richard Baker – Apologie for Laymen's Writing in Divinity, with a Short Meditation upon the Fall of Lucifer
Sir Edward Coke – The Complete Copyholder
Luís Vélez de Guevara – El Diablo cojuelo
William Habington – Observations upon History
Joseph Hall – Episcopacy by Divine Right
Samuel Hartlib (nominal author, really by Gabriel Plattes) – A Description of the Famous Kingdom of Macaria
Thomas Heywood – The Life of Merlin surnamed Ambrosius
Thomas Hobbes – De Cive
Sir Francis Kynaston – Leoline and Sydanis
John Milton – Of Reformation
Sir Robert Naunton (died 1635) – Fragmenta Regalia, or Observations on the late Queen Elizabeth, her Times and Favourites
Mother Shipton (died 1561, attributed) – The prophesie of Mother Shipton in the raigne of King Henry the eighth
Sir Henry Spelman – De Sepultura
Heinrich Stahl – Leyen Spiegel
John Taylor – John Taylors Last Voyage and Adventure
Nicolaes Tulp – Observationes Medicae
John Wilkins – Mercury, or The Secret and Swift Messenger
Francisco de Quevedo – Providencia de Dios
Juan Eusebio Nieremberg – De la hermosura de Dios y su amabilidad, por las infinitas perfecciones del ser divino
Luis Vélez de Guevara – El diablo Cojuelo

Richard Braithwaite – Mercurius Britanicus
Richard Brome – A Jovial Crew
Abraham Cowley – The Guardian
John Day – The Parliament of Bees (published)
John Denham – The Sophy
Thomas Killigrew – The Prisoners and Claricilla (published)
Shackerley Marmion – The Antiquary (published)
James Shirley – The Cardinal
John Tatham – The Distracted State
Lope de Vega (died 1635) – El caballero de Olmedo (posthumous, written in 1620)
Jan Vos – Aran en Titus, of wraak en weerwraak (Aran and Titus, or Revenge and Vengeance)

April 8 (baptised) – William Wycherley, English playwright (died 1716)
April 15 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish historian (died 1722)^[4]
March 15 (baptised) – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English politician and writer (died 1711)
May 16 – Dudley North, English economist, merchant and politician (died 1691)
May – Juan Núñez de la Peña, Spanish historian (died 1721)
Late October – Henry Dodwell, Irish-born theologian (died 1711)
unknown dates
- Pierre Allix, French Protestant author (died 1717)
- William Sherlock, English theologian (died 1707)

January 11
- Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian (born 1563)
- Juan de Jáuregui, Spanish poet and painter (born 1583)
February 15 – Sara Copia Sullam, Italian poet and writer (born 1592)^[5]
April 6 (buried) – Thomas Nabbes, English dramatist (born 1605)
April 13 – Richard Montagu, English theologian (born 1577)
June 26 – Antony Hickey, Irish Franciscan theologian (born 1586)
July 15 – Arthur Johnston, Scottish poet and physician (born c. 1579)^[6]
August 9 – Augustine Baker, Welsh-born Benedictine writer (born 1575)^[7]
August 16 – Thomas Heywood, English playwright, actor, poet and author (born c. 1573)
August (between 14 and 27) – Sir William Vaughan, Welsh writer and colonist (born 1575)