This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1684.

Events

June 25 Events Pre-1600 * 524 – The Franks are defeated by the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce. * 841 – In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of ...

– The death of

Robert Leighton The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

, Archbishop of Glasgow, gives rise to establishment of the

Leighton Library The Leighton Library, or Bibliotheca Leightoniana, in The Cross, Dunblane, is the oldest purpose built library in Scotland and also has a well-documented history as one of the earliest public subscription libraries in Scotland. Its collection of ...

Dunblane Dunblane (, gd, Dùn Bhlàthain) is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links ...

, the oldest surviving public subscription (lending) library in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. *

July 25 Events Pre-1600 * 306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. * 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. ...

– The English novelist and dramatist Mary Griffith marries merchant George Pix. *

November 11 Events Pre-1600 * 308 – At Carnuntum, Emperor ''emeritus'' Diocletian confers with Galerius, ''Augustus'' of the East, and Maximianus, the recently returned former ''Augustus'' of the West, in an attempt to end the civil wars of the T ...

– The English dramatist

Nathaniel Lee Nathaniel Lee (c. 1653 – 6 May 1692) was an England, English dramatist. He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth of England, Commonwealth; Dr Lee was ...

is admitted to

Bedlam Hospital Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films and TV series, most notably '' Bedlam'', a 1946 film with ...

for the insane. *''unknown dates'' **The Protestant

Academy of Saumur The Academy of Saumur (french: Académie de Saumur) was a Huguenot university at Saumur in western France. It existed from 1593, when it was founded by Philippe de Mornay, until shortly after 1685, when Louis XIV decided on the revocation of the E ...

is closed down by King

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

. **

John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to: Politics and law *Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament * John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania *John Gray Banks (188 ...

' historical play ''The Island Queens, or the Death of Mary Queen of Scotland'' is banned from the stage; it is produced as ''The Albion Queens'' twenty years later (

1704 In the Swedish calendar it was a leap year starting on Friday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–June * January 7 – Partial solar eclipse, Solar Saros 146, is visible in ...

). **

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Historica ...

begins his journal of literary criticism, ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres''.

New books

Fiction

Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barrie ...

– ''

Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister ''Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister'' is a three-volume roman à clef by Aphra Behn playing with events of the Monmouth Rebellion and exploring the genre of the epistolary novel. The first volume, published in 1684, lays some claim ...

'' *

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

– ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'', Second Part *

Giovanni Paolo Marana Giovanni Paolo Marana or sometimes Jean-Paul Marana (1642 - 1693) was a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, best remembered for his conviction for failing to reveal a conspiracy to cede the Genoese town of Savona to the Duchy of Savoy. Biograph ...

– ''

Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy ''Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy'' (french: L'Espion Turc) is an eight-volume collection of fictional letters claiming to have been written by an Ottoman spy named "Mahmut", in the French court of Louis XIV. Authorship and publication It is agre ...

'' *

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). Born as Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku and later ...

– ''The Great Mirror of Beauties''

Drama

Jean de La Chapelle Jean de La Chapelle (24 October 1651 – 29 May 1723) was a French writer and dramatist. He was born at Bourges, France, was elected to the Académie française in 1688, and died in Paris. Biography Born into minor nobility, nephew of Nicolas ...

– ''Ajax'' *John Horne – ''Fortune's Task, or the Fickle Fair One'' * John Lacy – ''Sir Hercules Buffoon'' *Simon Neale – ''The Mistaken Beauty'' (adapted from

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

) *

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodie ...

(possible author) – ''

Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery ''Sodom'' is an obscene Restoration closet drama, published in 1684. The work has been attributed to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, though its authorship is disputed. Determining the date of composition and attribution are complicated owing m ...

'' *

Thomas Southerne Thomas Southerne (12 February 166026 May 1746) was an Irish dramatist. Biography Thomas Southerne, born on 12 February 1660, in Oxmantown, near Dublin, was an Irish dramatist. He was the son of Francis Southerne (a Dublin brewer) and Margaret ...

– '' The Disappointment, or the Mother of Fashion'' *

Pedro Calderon de la Barca Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

**''Los cabellos de Absalón'' **''Guárdate del agua mansa''

Poetry

– ''Poems upon Several Occasions'' *

Pavao Ritter Vitezović Pavao Ritter Vitezović (; 7 January 1652 – 20 January 1713) was a Habsburg-Croatian polymath, variously described as a historian, linguist, publisher, poet, political theorist, diplomat, printmaker, draughtsman, cartographer, writer and print ...

– '' Odiljenje sigetsko'' (Farewell at Sziget)

Non-fiction

Jakob Abbadie Jakob Abbadie (; 25 September 1727), also known as Jacques or James Abbadie, was a French Protestant minister and writer. He became Dean of Killaloe, in Ireland. Life Jacques Abbadie was born at Nay, Béarn, probably in 1654, although 1657 and ...

– ''Traité de la vérité de la religion chrétienne'' *

Dorcas Dole Dorcas Dole (fl. later 17th century) was a Quaker religious pamphleteer from Bristol, England, of whose background and private life little certain is known.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds: The Feminist Companion to Litera ...

– ''Once More a Warning to Thee, O England, but more particularly to the inhabitants of the city of Bristol'' (by a Quaker) *

Edward Phillips Edward Phillips (August 1630 – c. 1696) was an English author. Life He was the son of Edward Phillips of the crown office in chancery, and his wife Anne, only sister of John Milton, the poet. Edward Phillips the younger was born in Strand, L ...

– ''Enchiridion linguae latinae'' *

Christian Knorr von Rosenroth Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (15/16 July 1636 – 4 May 1689) was a German Christian Hebraist and Christian Cabalist born at Alt-Raudten (today Stara Rudna) in Silesia. After having completed his studies in the universities of Wittenberg and Lei ...

– ''Kabbala Denudata'' (publication completed) *

Christopher Sandius Christopher Sandius Jr. (Königsberg, October 12, 1644 – Amsterdam, November 30, 1680) was an Arian writer and publisher of Socinian works without himself being a Socinian. His name was Latinized as Christophorus Sandius, though his German name a ...

– ''

Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum The ''Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum'', or ''Antitrinitarian Library'', first published in 1684, is a posthumously published work of Christopher Sandius (English: Christopher Sand), an exiled Prussian Antitrinitarian in Amsterdam, who chronologicall ...

'' *

George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, (11 November 1633 – 5 April 1695), was an English statesman, writer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660, and in the House of Lords after he was raised to the peerage in 1668. Backgr ...

– ''The Character of a Trimmer'' * Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneyra – ''Historia de la conquista de México''

Births

February 21 Events Pre-1600 * 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. * 1440 – The Prus ...

– Justus van Effen, Dutch journalist writing also in French (died

1735 Events January–March * January 2 – Alexander Pope's poem ''Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot'' is published in London. * January 8 – George Frideric Handel's opera ''Ariodante'' is premièred at the Royal Opera House in Covent G ...

) *

October 16 Events Pre-1600 * 456 – Ricimer defeats Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire. * 690 – Empress Wu Zetian ascends to the throne of the Tang dynasty and proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire. * 91 ...

– Peter Walkden, English diarist (died

1769 Events January–March * February 2 – Pope Clement XIII dies, the night before preparing an order to dissolve the Jesuits.Denis De Lucca, ''Jesuits and Fortifications: The Contribution of the Jesuits to Military Architecture in ...

) *

December 3 Events Pre-1600 * 915 – Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor (probable date). 1601–1900 *1775 – American Revolutionary War: becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Sta ...

–

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

, Danish/Norwegian essayist, philosopher and playwright (died

1754 Events January–March * January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''. * February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Pla ...

)

Deaths

April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. *1081 – Alexios I Kom ...

–

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

, English-born American theologian (born

1603 Events January–June * February 25 – Dutch–Portuguese War: the Portuguese ship '' Santa Catarina'' is seized by Dutch East India Company ships off Singapore. The first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia is established ...

) *

October 1 Events Pre-1600 * 331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. * 366 – Pope Damasus I is consecrated. * 959 – Edgar the Peaceful becomes king of all England, in succession to Eadwig. ...

–

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

, French dramatist (born

1606 Events January–June * January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins. * January 29 – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the Pi ...

) *

December 7 Events Pre-1600 *43 BC – Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated in Formia on orders of Marcus Antonius. * 574 – Byzantine Emperor Justin II, suffering recurring seizures of insanity, adopts his general Tiberius II Constant ...

–

John Oldham John Oldham may refer to: *John Oldham (colonist) (1592–1636), early Puritan settler in Massachusetts *John Oldham (poet) (1653–1684), English poet * John Oldham (psychiatrist), American psychiatrist *John Oldham (engineer) (1779–1840), Iris ...

, English satirical poet and translator (born

1653 Events January–March * January 3 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage. * January– The Swiss Peasant War begins after magistrates meeting at Lucerne ...

) *''Unknown date'' –

Francisco de Avellaneda Francisco Avellaneda (c. 1622 – c. 1684) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age. Biography Little record survives of Avellaneda's early life, although he achieved notoriety in his time as a playwright. In 1660, he is known to have been in ...

, Spanish dramatist and poet (born c. 1625)

References

{{Year in literature article categories Years of the 17th century in literature