Misplaced Pages

Events and trends

History of modern literature
By decade
List of years in literature
Early modern by century
16th 17th
Mid-modern by century
18th 19th
20th–21st century
Modernism Structuralism Deconstruction Poststructuralism Postmodern Postcolonial Electronic Ergodic
By region
Africa Moroccan Nigerian South African Americas American Argentine Brazilian Canadian Colombian Cuban Jamaican Mexican Peruvian Asia Afghan Bengali Bangladeshi English Chinese Gujarati Hindi Indian Indian English Japanese Kannada Kashmiri Korean Malayalam Marathi Pakistani Pakistani English Pashto Punjabi Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu Vietnamese Australasia Australian New Zealand Europe
Related topics
History of science fiction Literature by country History of theater History of ideas Intellectual history
Literature portal
v t e

• 1605–1615 – Miguel de Cervantes writes the two parts of Don Quixote.
• 1616: April – Death of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.
• 1630-1651: William Bradford writes Of Plymouth Plantation, journals that are considered the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and their government.
• 1660–1669 – Samuel Pepys writes his diary which not only covers his life but also the daily and historic events in London during his time.
• 1667–68 – Marianna Alcoforado writes her Letters of a Portuguese Nun.
• 1671–1696 – Madame de Sévigné writes her famous letters.
• Metaphysical poets - a term made by Samuel Johnson for a group of 17th century English poets.
• German literature of the Baroque period

New books and plays

1600

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
• England's Helicon (anthology) – including work by Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Thomas Lodge, Philip Sidney and others
• Old Fortunatus – Thomas Dekker
• The Spanish Moor's Tragedy – Thomas Dekker, John Marston, and William Haughton

1601

• Twelfth Night, or What You Will by William Shakespeare
• Cynthia's Revels – Ben Jonson
• Disputationes Metaphysicae by Francisco Suárez first published
• Satiromastix – Thomas Dekker

1602

• Rymes by Lope de Vega
• Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
• Antonio and Mellida (play) – John Marston
• Mirum in Modum (poetry) – John Davies of Hereford
• Satiromastix (play) – Thomas Dekker and John Marston
• A Survey of Cornwall – Richard Carew

1603

• The True Law of Free Monarchies by King James VI and I
• Ane Godlie Dreame (poem) by Elizabeth Melville published in Edinburgh
• Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
• Othello by William Shakespeare
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (published)

1604

• All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
• The Honest Whore (play) – Thomas Dekker
• The Malcontent (play) – John Marston

1605

• Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare
• The Dutch Courtesan (play) – John Marston
• The Tragedy of Philotas (play) – Samuel Daniel
• The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare
• Don Quixote (El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha), Part I – Miguel de Cervantes
• Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English Tongue – Richard Carew

1606

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

1607

• A Woman Killed with Kindness (play) – Thomas Heywood
• Bussy D'Ambois (play) – George Chapman
• Michaelmas Terme (play) – Thomas Middleton
• The Knight of the Burning Pestle (play) – Francis Beaumont
• The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt (play) – Thomas Dekker and John Webster
• The Legend of Great Cromwell – Michael Drayton
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare
• The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton

1608

• Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
• A Nest of Ninnies – Robert Armin
• Humour out of Breathe (play) – John Day
• The Belman of London (play) – Thomas Dekker
• The Merry Devil of Edmonton (play) – anonymous; has been attributed to William Shakespeare, Michael Drayton and others.

1609

• The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
• Jerusalem Conquered (epic poem) by Lope de Vega
• Fourre Birds of Noahs Arke – Thomas Dekker

1610

• Sidereus Nuncius by Galileo Galilei
• Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
• The Faithful Shepherdess (play) – John Fletcher

1611

• Fuente Ovejuna (play) – Lope de Vega
• The Authorized Version (King James version) of the Bible
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
• Catiline his Conspiracy (play) – Ben Jonson
• The Roaring Girle (play) – Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton

1612

• Four Soluloquies – Lope de Vega
• El comendador de Ocaña (Ocaña's mayor) – Lope de Vega
• A Woman is a Weather-Cocke – Nathan Field

1613

• Soledades – Luis de Góngora
• La dama boba (the fool lady) – Lope de Vega
• The Dog in the Manger (play) – Lope de Vega
• Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
• Tears on the Death of Moeliades – William Drummond of Hawthornden
• The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois – George Chapman
• Purchas, his Pilgrimage; or, Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages – Samuel Purchas

1614

• Bartholomew Fair (play) – Ben Jonson
• La Lira by Giambattista Marino
• Fama fraternitatis Roseae Crucis oder Die Bruderschaft des Ordens der Rosenkreuzer – Johannes Valentinus Andreae

1615

• Don Quixote, Part II – Miguel de Cervantes
• El caballero de Olmedo (The knight from Olmedo) (play) – Lope de Vega
• Confessio oder Bekenntnis der Societät und Bruderschaft Rosenkreuz – Johannes Valentinus Andreae

1616

• Ben Jonson's Works
• The Whole Works of Homer – George Chapman
• Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459 – Johannes Valentinus Andreae
• Rollo, Duke of Normandy (also known as The Bloody Brother) (?1616–30?) – John Fletcher, Ben Jonson, Philip Massinger, George Chapman (The drinking song)

1617

• Warenar (play) by Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft
• A Faire Quarrell (play) – Thomas Middleton and William Rowley

1618

• History of Tythes – John Selden
• Amends for Ladies (play) – Nathan Field

1619

• A King and No King (play) – Beaumont and Fletcher
• The Maid's Tragedy (play) – Beaumont and Fletcher
• The Shoemaker's Holiday – Thomas Deloney
• The Custome of the Countrey – John Fletcher and Philip Massinger
• Reipublicae Christianopolitanae descriptio – Johannes Valentinus Andreae

1620

• Philaster – Beaumont and Fletcher

1621

• The Anatomy of Melancholy – Robert Burton
• Women Beware Women – Thomas Middleton
• El vergonzoso en palacio – Tirso de Molina
• The Countess of Montgomery's Urania – Lady Mary Wroth

1623

• The Heir (play) – Thomas May
• The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh – Francis Bacon
• The French Disease – Richard Brome
• The Beggar's Bush – John Fletcher
• El tejedor de Segovia – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
• The Changeling – Thomas Middleton and William Rowley text

1623

• L'Adone by Giambattista Marino
• Love, honour and power (play) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• The Duchess of Malfi – John Webster
• First Folio – William Shakespeare

1624

• Circe (poem) bu Lope de Vega
• Nero Caesar, or Monarchie Depraved – Edmund Bolton
• The Sun's Darling – John Ford

1625

• De jure belli ac pacis by Hugo Grotius
• Complete Essays – Francis Bacon
• Les Bergeries – Racan

1626

• El Buscón – Francisco de Quevedo

1627

• England's schim (play) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• The Bataile of Agincourt – Michael Drayton
• First Steps up Parnassus – Michael Drayton

1628

• Microcosmographie – John Earle

1629

• The Roman Actor (play) – Philip Massinger
• La Dama Duende (play) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• The Tragedy of Albovine (play) – William D'Avenant

1630

• The Conceited Pedlar – Thomas Randolph

1631

• The punishment without vengeance (play) – Lope de Vega

1632

• L'Allegro – John Milton
• La Dorotea – Lope de Vega
• The Fatal Dowry (play) – Nathan Field and Philip Massinger
• Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei
• The Muses' Looking-Glass by Thomas Randolph

1633

• A New Way to Pay Old Debts (play) – Philip Massinger
• Love's Sacrifice (play) – John Ford
• The Gamester (play) – James Shirley
• The Temple (poetry) – George Herbert

1634

• Tottenham Court (play) – Thomas Nabbes

1636

• Life is a dream (play) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• Le Cid (play) – Pierre Corneille

1637

• La Vega del Parnaso (Parnasos' river bank) – Lope de Vega
• Discourse on the Method – René Descartes

1638

• Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei
• Alcione (play) – Pierre du Ryer

1639

• Argalus and Parthenia (play) – Henry Glapthorne
• The City Match – Jasper Mayne

1640

• Horace (play) – Pierre Corneille
• The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in North America
• Joseph's partly-coloured Coat – Thomas Fuller

1641

• Meditations on First Philosophy – René Descartes
• Episcopacy by Divine Right – Joseph Hall
• The Cardinall (play) – James Shirley (first extant edition, 1652)
• A Joviall Crew (play) – Richard Brome (first extant edition, 1652)

1642

• September: Playhouses closed in England by government order.
• Religio Medici Sir Thomas Browne
• Saul (play) by Pierre du Ryer

1644

• Principles of Philosophy – René Descartes
• Areopagitica by John Milton

1646

• Andronicus or the Unfortunate Politician – Thomas Fuller
• Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Vulgar Errors – Sir Thomas Browne

1647

• Philosophical Poems – Henry More

1648

• The Amorous War – Jasper Mayne
• Hesperides by Robert Herrick (poet)
• Padmavati – Alaol (in Bengali)

1649

• Eikon Basilike – John Gauden

1650

• Silex scintillans – Henry Vaughan

1651

• El alcalde de Zalamea – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes
• Reliquiae Wottonianiae – Sir Henry Wotton (posthumous)
• Jeune Alcidiane – Marin le Roy de Gomberville

1652

• Brief Character of the Low Countries – Owen Feltham
• Theophilia or Love's Sacrifice (poetry) – Edward Benlowes
• The Cardinall (play) – James Shirley

1653

• A History of New England – Edward Johnson
• The Compleat Angler – Izaak Walton
• Poems and Fancies – Margaret Cavendish
• The Princess Cloria – Percy Herbert, 2nd Baron Powis

1654

• Lucifer (play) – Joost van den Vondel
• Parlhenissa, a novel – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

1655

• L'Étourdi ou les Contretemps first play by Molière

1656

• El gran teatro del mundo (World's great theatre) (play) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• Nature's Pictures – Margaret Cavendish
• Oceana by James Harrington

1657

• Guárdate del agua mansa (Keep out from silent waters) – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• Katharina von Georgien (play) by Andreas Gryphius

1658

• Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial – Sir Thomas Browne
• The Garden of Cyrus -Sir Thomas Browne

1659

• Sati Mayna O Lorchandrani – Alaol (in Bengali)
• Lucasta – Richard Lovelace (posthumous)
• Pharonnida – William Chamberlayne

1660

• Tohfa – Alaol (in Bengali)

1661

• Elementa jurisprudentiae universalis libri duo by Samuel von Pufendorf

1662

• A new edition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England (this edition remains the officially authorised book to the present day).

1664

• La Thébaïde (play) – Jean Racine

1665

• Alexandre le Grand (Alexander the Great) (play) – Jean Racine
• Memoires of François Bassompierre (posthumous)
• Saptapaykar – Alaol (in Bengali)

1666

• Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan

1667

• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Andromaque by Jean Racine
• Annus Mirabilis, the Year of Wonders 1666 – John Dryden
• Secret Love (play) – John Dryden

1668

• Le Tartuffe – Molière
• The Miser – Molière
• Simplicius Simplicissimus – Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
• Cyprianus Anglicanus – Peter Heylin
• Essay of Dramatick Poesie – John Dryden
• Observations upon Experimental Philosophy – Margaret Cavendish

1669

• Saifulmuluk O Badiujjamal – Alaol (in Bengali)

1670

• Pensées by Blaise Pascal
• The Conquest of Granada – John Dryden

1671

• Madame de Sévigné writes her first letter
• Samson Agonistes – John Milton
• The Rehearsal (play) – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham performed
• Sikandarnama – Alaol (in Bengali)

1672

• Bajacet (play) by Jean Racine
• Marriage à la mode by John Dryden
• The Rehearsal (play) by George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham published

1674

• Iphigénie (play) by Jean Racine
• The Tragedy of Nero, Emperour of Rome (play) – Nathaniel Lee

1675

• The Country Wife by William Wycherley
• Gerania; a New Discovery of a Little Sort of People, anciently discoursed of, called Pygmies by Joshua Barnes

1676

• The Man of Mode (play) – George Etherege
• English-Adventures by a Person of Honor – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

1677

• Phèdre – Jean Racine
• Treatise of the Art of War – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

1678

• All for Love – John Dryden
• The True Intellectual System of the Universe – Ralph Cudworth
• The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
• Threnodia Carolina – Sir Thomas Herbert

1679

• Anima Mundi – Charles Blount

1680

• The Life and Death of Mr Badman – John Bunyan

1681

• Miscellaneous Poems by Andrew Marvell (posthumous)
• Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden

1682

• The Life of an Amorous Man (好色一代男, Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko) by Ihara Saikaku

1685

• Five Women Who Loved Love (好色五人女, Kōshoku Gonin Onna) by Ihara Saikaku

1686

• The Life of an Amorous Woman (好色一代女, Kōshoku Ichidai Onna) by Ihara Saikaku

1687

• Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica - Isaac Newton
• The Hind and the Panther – John Dryden
• The Hind and the Panther Transversed to the Story of the Country and the City Mouse – Matthew Prior
• Bellamira, or The Mistress (play) – Sir Charles Sedley
• The Great Mirror of Male Love (The Encyclopedia of Male Love) (男色大鑑, Nanshoku Okagami) by Ihara Saikaku

1688

• The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (日本永代蔵, Nippon Eitaigura) by Ihara Saikaku

1689

• The Massacre of Paris (play) – Nathaniel Lee
• Table Talk – John Selden (posthumous)

1690

• Amphitryon, or the Two Socias – John Dryden
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding – John Locke
• Memoires of the Navy by Samuel Pepys

1691

• Athalie (play) – Jean Racine

1692

• Reckonings that Carry Men Through the World or This Scheming World (世間胸算用, Seken Munazan'yō) by Ihara Saikaku

1693

• The Impartial Critick – John Dennis

1694

• The Fatal Marriage (play) – Thomas Southerne

1696

• Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon starts writings his Memoirs

1697

• A New Voyage Round the World – William Dampier

1698

• The Campaigners (play) – Thomas D'Urfey

1699

• Dialogues of the Dead – William King and Charles Boyle

Translations

• The Bible - translated into Italian by Giovanni Diodati
• Don Quixote - translated into Italian by Lorenzo Franciosini
• Euclid's Elements - translated into Chinese by Xu Guangqi
• Hayy ibn Yaqdhan by Ibn Tufail – translated into Latin by Edward Pococke the Younger, translated into Dutch by Johannes Bouwmeester, and translated into English by George Ashwell
• The works of Tacitus - translated into Italian by Adriano Politi

Births

• 1600 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville
• 1601 – Baltasar Gracián
• 1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard
• 1603 – Pierre Corneille
• 1605 – Thomas Browne
• 1607 – Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla
• 1608 – Padre António Vieira/ John Milton
• 1609 – Jean Rotrou
• 1611 – William Cartwright; Thomas Urquhart
• 1613 – John Cleveland
• 1615 – Tanneguy Lefebvre
• 1617 – Ralph Cudworth
• 1620 – Lucy Hutchinson
• 1621 – Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen
• 1622 – Molière
• 1623 – Blaise Pascal
• 1625 – Thomas Corneille
• 1626 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné
• 1627 – John Flavel
• 1628 – Miguel de Molinos
• 1630 – Isaac Barrow
• 1631 – John Dryden
• 1632 – John Locke
• 1632 – Baruch Spinoza
• 1633 – Samuel Pepys
• 1639 – Thomas Ellwood
• 1640 – Aphra Behn
• 1642 – Isaac Newton
• 1643 – Gilbert Burnet
• 1644 – Matsuo Bashō
• 1646 – Gottfried Leibniz
• 1648 – Robert Barclay
• 1651 – William Dampier
• 1652 – Thomas Otway
• 1657 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
• 1667 – Jonathan Swift
• 1668 – Alain-René Lesage
• 1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
• 1681 – Robert Keith
• 1685 – George Berkeley
• 1689 – Samuel Richardson
• 1694 – Voltaire
• 1698 – Metastasio

Deaths

• 1600 – Richard Hooker (theologian)
• 1605 – John Stow
• 1607 – Sir Edward Dyer
• 1612 – Juan de la Cueva; Robert Armin
• 1615 – Mateo Alemán
• 1616 – William Shakespeare; Miguel de Cervantes; Francis Beaumont; Richard Hakluyt
• 1621 – Guillaume du Vair
• 1623 – William Camden
• 1624 – Stephen Gosson
• 1625 – John Fletcher; Thomas Lodge
• 1626 – Lancelot Andrewes; Samuel Purchas
• 1627 – Luis de Góngora
• 1631 – Michael Drayton; Guillén de Castro y Bellvis
• 1633 – Abraham Fraunce
• 1634 – George Chapman
• 1635 – Lope de Vega; Thomas Randolph; Richard Corbet; John Hall (son-in-law of Shakespeare)
• 1638 – Robert Aytoun
• 1639 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
• 1640 – Philip Massinger; Robert Burton
• 1641 – Augustine Baker
• 1643 – William Cartwright
• 1644 – Luis Vélez de Guevara; Francis Quarles
• 1645 – Francisco de Quevedo; William Lithgow
• 1647 – Francis Meres
• 1648 – Tirso de Molina; Alonso de Castillo Solórzano; George Abbot; Vincent Voiture
• 1650 – René Descartes
• 1658 – Baltasar Gracián; Pierre du Ryer
• 1660 – Thomas Urquhart
• 1661 – María de Zayas y Sotomayor
• 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert
• 1667 – Georges de Scudéry
• 1672 – Anne Bradstreet; Tanneguy Lefebvre
• 1673 – Molière
• 1674 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville
• 1676 – Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen
• 1678 – Andrew Marvell
• 1679 – Thomas Hobbes
• 1681 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• 1682 – Thomas Browne
• 1685 – Thomas Otway
• 1688 – John Bunyan; Ralph Cudworth
• 1689 – Aphra Behn
• 1691 – Richard Baxter; John Flavel
• 1696 – Miguel de Molinos; Madame de Sévigné

Wikisource reference work

•  The First Half of the Seventeenth Century (1906) by Herbert J. C. Grierson. Periods of European Literature series, vol. 7. George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, ed. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.

See also

• 17th century in poetry
• German literature of the Baroque period
• French literature of the 17th century
• Early Modern English literature
• Baroque literature
• Early Modern literature
• 16th century in literature
• 1700 in literature
• 18th century in literature
• list of years in literature

References

1. Prickett, Katy (7 August 2023). "Samuel Pepys: Cambridge college digitises medieval manuscripts". BBC News, Cambridgeshire. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
2. Maddrey, Joseph (13 May 2009). The Making of T.S. Eliot: A Study of the Literary Influences. McFarland. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-7864-4271-3. Retrieved 19 February 2024.

External links

• Media related to 17th-century literature at Wikimedia Commons
• Bartleby - Table of Principal Dates

• 17th-century literature
• 17th-century books
• History of literature
• Early modern literature