17th century in literature

Events and trends

 * 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- [sic]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

 * wikisource-logo.svg 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.