This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1691.

Events

March 17 Events Pre-1600 * 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. * 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...

– ''

The Athenian Mercury ''The Athenian Mercury'', or ''The Athenian Gazette'', or ''The Question Project'', or ''The Casuistical Mercury'', was a periodical written by ''The Athenian Society'' and published in London twice weekly between 17 March 1690 ( i.e. 1691 Gregor ...

'' begins twice-weekly publication in London. *

May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...

– Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle becomes a member of the Académie française.

New books

Prose

Adrien Baillet Adrien Baillet (13 June 164921 January 1706) was a French scholar and critic. He is now best known as a biographer of René Descartes. Life He was born in the village of La Neuville-en-Hez, Neuville near Beauvais, in Picardy. His parents could o ...

– ''La vie de monsieur Descartes'' * Barbara Blaugdone – ''An Account of the Travels, Sufferings & Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdone. Given forth as a testimony to the Lord's power, and for the encouragement of Friends'' *

Gerard Langbaine Gerard Langbaine (15 July 1656 – 23 June 1692) was an English dramatic biographer and critic, best known for his ''An Account of the English Dramatic Poets'' (1691), the earliest work to give biographical and critical information on the playwrig ...

– ''An Account of the English Dramatic Poets'' *

Maximilien Misson Francis Maximilian Misson, originally François Maximilien Misson (c.1650 – 12 January 1722), was a French writer and traveller. Born in Lyon, he fled France at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 16 ...

– ''Nouveau voyage d'Italie'' *Sir Dudley North – ''Discourses upon Trade'' *''The Kingdom of Ireland'' *

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in the Oro ...

– ''Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz''

Drama

*Anonymous – ''The Braggadocio, or Bawd Turn'd Puritan'' *John Bancroft – ''Edward III, with the Fall of Mortimer, Earl of March'' *

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 ...

– ''Céfalo y Pocris'' *

David-Augustin de Brueys David-Augustin de Brueys (18 September 164125 November 1723) was a French theologian and playwright. He was born in Aix-en-Provence. His family was Calvinist, and he studied theology. After writing a critique of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet's work, ...

& Jean Palaprat – ''Le Muet'' *

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

– ''King Arthur, or the British Worthy'' (a "semi-opera" with music by Henry Purcell) *

Thomas d'Urfey Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devonsh ...

– '' Love for Money'' * Joseph Harris – '' The Mistakes'' *

William Mountfort William Mountfort (c. 1664 – 10 December 1692), English actor and dramatic writer, was the son of a Staffordshire gentleman. Biography His first stage appearance was with the Dorset Garden Theatre company about 1678, and by 1682 he was ...

– ''

Greenwich Park Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers , and is part of the Greenwich World Heritag ...

'' *

Archibald Pitcairne Archibald Pitcairne or Pitcairn (25 December 165220 October 1713) was a Scottish physician. He was a physician and poet who first studied law at Edinburgh and Paris graduating with an M.A. from Edinburgh in 1671. He turned his attent ...

and others – ''The Phanaticks'' (first published as ''The Assembly, or Scotch Reformation'', posthumously as "by a Scots Gentleman", 1722) *

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

– ''

Athalie ''Athalie'' (, sometimes translated ''Athalia'') is a 1691 play, the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of "one of the greatest literary artists known" and the "ripest work" of Racine's genius. Charles Augus ...

'' * John Smith (probable author – issued anonymously) – ''Win Her and Take Her, or Old Fools will be Medling: a comedy'' "Underhill, Cave" in ''Dictionary of National Biography''. *

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 Margar ...

– ''

The Wives Excuse ''The Wives Excuse'' also ''The Wives Excuse; Or, Cuckolds Make Themselves'' is a 1691 comedy play by the Anglo-Irish writer Thomas Southerne. The title is sometimes written more grammatically as ''The Wives' Excuse''. It was originally staged a ...

'' *John Wilson – ''Belphegor, or the Marriage of the Devil'' published

Births

* February 3 –

George Lillo George Lillo (3 February 1691 – 4 September 1739) was an English playwright and tragedian. He was also a jeweller in London. He produced his first stage work, ''Silvia, or The Country Burial'', in 1730, and a year later his most famous play, ...

, English dramatist and actor (died

1739 Events January–March * January 1 – Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, in the South Atlantic Ocean. * January 3: A 7.6 earthquake shakes the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ...

) * February 27 –

Edward Cave Edward Cave (27 February 1691 – 10 January 1754) was an English printer, editor and publisher. He coined the term "magazine" for a periodical, founding ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' in 1731, and was the first publisher to successfully fashio ...

, English printer and publisher (died 1754) *

April 9 Events Pre-1600 * 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...

–

Johann Matthias Gesner Johann Matthias Gesner (9 April 1691 – 3 August 1761) was a German classical scholar and schoolmaster. Life He was born at Roth an der Rednitz near Ansbach. His father, Johann Samuel Gesner, a pastor in Auhausen, died in 1704, leaving the fa ...

, German classicist (died

1761 Events January–March * January 14 – Third Battle of Panipat: Ahmad Shah Durrani and his coalition decisively defeat the Maratha Confederacy, and restore the Mughal Empire to Shah Alam II. * January 16 – Siege of Pond ...

) *

October 18 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation. * 320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philos ...

– John Leland, English theologian (died

1766 Events January–March * January 1 – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Charles III, and figurehead for Jacobitism. * January 14 – C ...

)

Deaths

June 26 Events Pre-1600 * 4 – Augustus adopts Tiberius. * 221 – Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar. * 363 – Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat fr ...

–

John Flavel John Flavel (c. 1627–1691) was an English Puritan Presbyterian minister and author. Life Flavel, the eldest son of the Rev. Richard Flavel, described as 'a painful and eminent minister,' who was incumbent successively of Bromsgrove, Worceste ...

, English Presbyterian religious writer (born

1627 Events January–March * January 26 – The Dutch ship t Gulden Zeepaert'', skippered by François Thijssen, makes the first recorded sighting of the coast of South Australia. * February 15 – The administrative rural p ...

) *

July 30 Events Pre-1600 * 762 – Baghdad is founded. *1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council. * 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islan ...

– Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and critic (born

1639 Events January–March * January 14 – Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. * January 19 – Hämeenlinna ( sv, Tavastehus) is granted privileges, after it separates from the Vanaja parish ...

) *

October 8 Events Pre-1600 * 314 – Constantine I defeats Roman Emperor Licinius, who loses his European territories. * 451 – The first session of the Council of Chalcedon begins. * 876 – Frankish forces led by Louis the Younger preven ...

– Thomas Barlow, English religious writer and bishop (born

1609 Events January–June * January – The Basque witch trials begin. * January 15 – One of the world's first newspapers, ''Avisa Relation oder Zeitung'', begins publication in Wolfenbüttel (Holy Roman Empire). * January 3 ...

) *

October 10 Events Pre-1600 * 680 – The Battle of Karbala marks the Martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali. * 732 – Charles Martel's forces defeat an Umayyad army near Tours, France. *1471 – Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with ...

– Isaac de Benserade, French poet (born

1613 Events January–June * January 11 – Workers in a sandpit in the Dauphiné region of France discover the skeleton of what is alleged to be a 30-foot tall man (the remains, it is supposed, of the giant Teutobochus, a legendary ...

) *

December 8 Events Pre-1600 * 395 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. * 757 – The poet Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city durin ...

–

Richard Baxter Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he ...

, English Puritan religious leader and writer (born

1615 Events January–June * January 1 – The New Netherland Company is granted a three-year monopoly in North American trade, between the 40th and 45th parallels. * February – Sir Thomas Roe sets out to become the first a ...

) *''Probable year of death'' –

Samuel Pordage Samuel Pordage (1633 – c. 1691) was a 17th-century English poet. He is best known by his '' Azaria and Hushai'' (1682), a reply to John Dryden's '' Absalom and Achitophel''. Life Samuel was the eldest son of John Pordage, a clergyman from Brad ...

, English poet and cleric (born

1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, w ...

)

References

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