1646 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1646 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- March 24 - The King's MenKing's Men (playing company)The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
petition Parliament for three and a half years' back pay; this is despite the London theatres officially remaining closed through the middle 1640s. No details of their activities in these years survive. - May 5 - Martin Llewellyn's drama The King Found at Southwell is performed at OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
; it is the last stage piece presented in the city before its surrender to Parliamentary forces in the English Civil WarEnglish Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, June 22-4. - John LilburneJohn LilburneJohn Lilburne , also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law...
is placed in the Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
for denouncing his former commander the Earl of Manchester as a traitor. - Jacqueline PascalJacqueline PascalJacqueline Pascal , sister of Blaise Pascal, was born at Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France.Like her brother she was a prodigy, composing verses when only eight years old, and a five-act comedy at eleven. In 1646, the influence of her brother converted her to Jansenism...
is converted to JansenismJansenismJansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
by her brother, Blaise PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
.
New books
- Anonymous (John LilburneJohn LilburneJohn Lilburne , also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law...
?) - London's Liberty in Chains Discovered - Anonymous (John Lilburne?) - Vox Plebis, or the People's Outcry
- Sir Thomas BrowneThomas BrowneSir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....
Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Vulgar Errors - Thomas FullerThomas FullerThomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...
- Andronicus or the Unfortunate Politician - Sir John SucklingJohn Suckling (poet)Sir John Suckling was an English poet and one prominent figure among those renowned for careless gaiety, wit, and all the accomplishments of a Cavalier poet; and also the inventor of the card game Cribbage...
- An Account of Religion by Reason published
New drama
- Pierre CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
- Théodore - Jean de Rotrou - Célie
- James ShirleyJames ShirleyJames Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
- The Triumph of BeautyThe Triumph of BeautyThe Triumph of Beauty is a Caroline era masque, written by James Shirley and first published in 1646. The masque shows a strong influence of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream....
(masqueMasqueThe masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
) - Sir John SucklingJohn Suckling (poet)Sir John Suckling was an English poet and one prominent figure among those renowned for careless gaiety, wit, and all the accomplishments of a Cavalier poet; and also the inventor of the card game Cribbage...
- Fragmenta Aurea, collected plays, including The Sad One (unfinished)
Poetry
- Richard CrashawRichard CrashawRichard Crashaw , English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.-Life:...
- Steps to the Temple - Martin Lluelyn - Men-Miracles
- John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
- Poems - Francis QuarlesFrancis QuarlesFrancis Quarles was an English poet most famous for his Emblem book aptly entitled Emblems.-Career:Francis was born in Romford, Essex, , and baptised there on 8 May 1592. He traced his ancestry to a family settled in England before the Norman Conquest with a long history in royal service...
- The Shepherds' Oracle - James ShirleyJames ShirleyJames Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
- Poems - Henry VaughanHenry VaughanHenry Vaughan was a Welsh physician and metaphysical poet.Vaughan and his twin brother the hermetic philosopher and alchemist Thomas Vaughan, were the sons of Thomas Vaughan and his wife Denise of 'Trenewydd', Newton, in Brecknockshire, Wales...
- Poems, with the Tenth Satire of Juvenal Englished
Births
- March 19 - Michael KongehlMichael KongehlMichael Kongehl was a German baroque poet.-Life:Kongehl was born in Kreuzburg to the brewer Michael Kongehl and his wife Barbara Marquart. He visited the school in Kreuzburg and Königsberg and started to study Lutheran divinity at the University of Königsberg in 1661. Afterwards Kongehl travelled...
, poet (died 1710) - July 1 - Gottfried LeibnizGottfried LeibnizGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....
, philosopher (died 1716) - July 20 - Eusèbe RenaudotEusèbe RenaudotEusèbe Renaudot was a French theologian and Orientalist.-Life:Born in Paris, he was brought up and educated for a career in the church; but after being educated by the Jesuits, and joining the Oratorians in 1666, he was in poor health, left his order, and never took more than minor orders...
, theologian (died 1720) - probable - John MasonJohn Mason (poet)John Mason was an English clergyman, poet and influential hymn-writer, a Calvinist and millennial preacher.-Life:He belonged to a clerical family living in the neighbourhood of Kettering and Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. He was educated first at Strixton in Northamptonshire, and was admitted a...
, poet, preacher and hymn-writer (died 1694)
Deaths
- August 19 - Alexander Henderson (theologian)Alexander Henderson (theologian)Alexander Henderson was a Scottish theologian, and an important ecclesiastical statesman of his period. He is considered the second founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland, and its Presbyterian churches are largely indebted to him for the forms of their dogmas and organization.-Life:He was born...
(born c.1583) - September 17 - Erycius PuteanusErycius PuteanusErycius Puteanus was a humanist and philologist from the Low Countries.-Life:He was born in Venlo and studied at the schools of Dordrecht and Cologne , where he took the degree of Master of Arts, 28 February 1595...
, philologist and encyclopedist (born 1574) - October 23 - David WedderburnDavid Wedderburn (writer)David Wedderburn was a writer, and schoolmaster at Aberdeen Grammar School. Though his date of birth is not known, he was baptised on 2 January 1580, and was educated in Aberdeen....
, schoolmaster and author of textbooks (born 1580) - December 23 - François MaynardFrançois MaynardFrançois Maynard, sometimes seen as "de Maynard" was a French poet who spent much of his life in Toulouse.-Life and works:...
, poet (born c.1582)