# 17th century in literature
## Events and trends

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* 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.