This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1655.

Events

February 24 Events Pre-1600 * 484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica. * 1303 – The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence. ...

– The English playwright Thomas Porter abducts his future bride Anne Blount. *

March 26 Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 624 – First Eid al-Fitr celebration. * 1021 – The death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret ...

– The playwright Thomas Porter kills a soldier named Thomas Salkeld in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, probably in a duel, is consequently tried for

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, pleads guilty to

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, is allowed benefit of clergy, and is sentenced to be burned in the hand. *May–October –

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

is imprisoned at

Chepstow Castle Chepstow Castle () at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Located above cliffs on the River Wye, construction began in 1067 under the instruction of the Normans, Norman Lord William ...

for an injudicious preface to his popular manual of devotion, , published this year. *

August 6 Events Pre-1600 *686 – The Ummayad forces suffer a deceisive defeat against the pro-Alid forces under Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar in the battle of Khazir. *1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria (1284), Battle o ...

– The

Blackfriars Theatre Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ...

in London is demolished. * October 29 – To celebrate

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

's Day, Edmund Gayton's pageant ''Charity Triumphant or the Virgin Show'' is staged in London; it is the first City pageant in fifteen years.

New books

Prose

* John Bramhall – ''Defense of True Liberty'' (

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

divine begins exchange of treatises with

Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan (Hobbes book), Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered t ...

) * Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle – ''The World's Olio'' *

Nicholas Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer.Patrick Curry: "Culpeper, Nicholas (1616–1654)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) His boo ...

– ''Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick'' * Thomas Fuller – ''The Church History of Britain'' * John Heydon – ''Eugenius Theodidacticus'' *Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange (attributed) – '' L'Escole des filles'' *

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were Presbyter ...

**''A New Discovery of Free-State Tyranny'' **''The

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

Unmasked'' * Thomas Stanley – ''History of Philosophy'' *

John Wallis John Wallis (; ; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician, who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 Wallis served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal court. ...

– (attack on the works of Thomas Hobbes) * Izaak Walton – ''

The Compleat Angler ''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton, first published in 1653 by John and Richard Marriot, Richard Marriot in Lon ...

'' (2nd edition) *

Baltasar Gracián Baltasar Gracián y Morales (; 8 January 16016 December 1658), better known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit priest and Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte de Gracián, Belmonte, n ...

– ''El comulgatorio'' *

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Order of Santiago, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, ...

– ''Política de Dios y gobierno de Cristo'' (second part) *

Diego de Saavedra Fajardo Diego de Saavedra Fajardo (24 August 1648) was a Spanish Diplomacy, diplomat and Intellectual, man of letters. Biography He was born in Algezares, in what is now the province of Murcia. After receiving a religious education at Salamanca, he t ...

– ''Juicio de artes y ciencias''

Drama

* Antony Brewer – ''The Lovesick King'' * Lodowick Carlell – ''The Passionate Lovers, Parts 1 and 2'' * Robert Daborne – '' The Poor Man's Comfort'' * Robert Davenport – '' King John and Matilda'' *

Thomas Heywood Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...

and William Rowley – '' Fortune by Land and Sea'' * Philip Massinger – ''Three New Plays'', a collection that included ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

,'' '' The Bashful Lover,'' and (with John Fletcher) '' A Very Woman'' * James Shirley **'' The Gentleman of Venice'' **'' The Politician'' *

–

Poetry

* Henry Vaughan – ''Silex Scintillans'' (part 2)

Births

January 1 January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in the Gregorian Calendar; 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year. __TOC__ Events ...

– Christian Thomasius, German philosopher (died 1728) *

February 7 Events Pre-1600 * 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor. * 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II. * 1301 & ...

– Jean-François Regnard, French dramatist and diarist (died 1709) *

February 28 Events Pre-1600 *202 BC – Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. * 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople (Roman Catholic), Fourth Council of Co ...

– Johann Beer, Austrian author, court official and composer (died 1700) *c. November – Jacob Tonson, English bookseller and publisher (died 1736) *''unknown date'' – Lin Yining (林以寧), Chinese poet (died c. 1730)

Deaths

February 25 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. * 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. * ...

– Daniel Heinsius, Dutch poet (born

1580 1580 (Roman numerals, MDLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 31 – Portuguese succession crisis of 1580: The death of Henry, King of Portugal, with no direct heirs, leads ...

) * May 8 –

Edward Winslow Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a English Separatist, Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both ...

, English theologian, pamphleteer and

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

politician (born 1595) *

July 28 Events Pre-1600 *1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina. *1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. *1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known t ...

– Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist (born 1619) * September 7 – François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist (born c. 1601) *

October 24 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69 – In the Second Battle of Bedriacum, troops loyal to Vespasian defeat those of Emperor Vitellius. * 1260 – Chartres Cathedral is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. * 1260 – Afte ...

–

Pierre Gassendi Pierre Gassendi (; also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi, Petrus Gassendus; 22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer, and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France, he a ...

, French philosopher (born 1592) *''probable'' – John Reynolds, English poet, story-writer and pamphleteer (born c. 1588)

References

{{Year in literature article categories