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, Archbishop of Glasgow, gives rise to establishment of the Leighton Library at

Dunblane Dunblane (, ) is a 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 to much of the Central Be ...

, the oldest surviving public subscription (lending) library in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. *

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 Bridg ...

– 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 th ...

– The English dramatist

Nathaniel Lee Nathaniel Lee (c. 1653 – 6 May 1692) was an 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; Dr Lee was chaplain to George Monck, afterw ...

is admitted to Bedlam Hospital for the insane. *''unknown dates'' **The Protestant Academy of Saumur is closed down by King

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

. ** John Banks' 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–March * January 7 – Partial solar eclipse, Solar Saros 146, is visible i ...

). **

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas ...

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

New books

Fiction

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

– ''

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 cla ...

'' *

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English writer and preacher. He is best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', which also became an influential literary model. In addition to ''The Pilgrim' ...

– ''

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 commonly regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant devotional literature and of wider early moder ...

'', 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. Bio ...

– ''

Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy ''Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy'' () 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 agreed that the first vol ...

'' *

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). His born name may have been Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, and he first studied haikai poetry under a ...

– ''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 Nicol ...

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

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 26 July 1680 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II of England, Charles II's Restoration (England), ...

(possible author) – '' Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery'' *

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 Margare ...

– '' The Disappointment, or the Mother of Fashion'' * Pedro Calderon de la Barca **''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 printe ...

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

Non-fiction

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

Dorcas Dole Dorcas Dole (fl. later 17th century) was a Quaker religious pamphleteer from Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous c ...

– ''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 Stran ...

– ''Enchiridion linguae latinae'' * Christian Knorr von Rosenroth – ''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 ...

– ''

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 chronologica ...

'' *

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

– ''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 ...

– 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 ...

) *

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. * ...

– 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 ...

) *

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

–

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 Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

, Danish/Norwegian essayist, philosopher and playwright (died 1754)

Deaths

April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. * 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos overthrows the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and, after his tro ...

–

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

, English-born American theologian (born

1603 Events January–March * January 24 – Anglo-Spanish War: English Admiral Christopher Newport leads an unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish-controlled Caribbean island of Jamaica, where he was attempting to pillage the area t ...

) *

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 E ...

–

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

, French dramatist (born

1606 Events January–March * January 9 – The Black Nazarene, a statue, arrives in Manila from Mexico. * January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I o ...

) *

December 7 Events Pre-1600 *43 BC – 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 and proclaims him ...

– John Oldham, 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 Lucern ...

) *''Unknown date'' – Francisco de Avellaneda, Spanish dramatist and poet (born c. 1625)

References

{{Year in literature article categories