1634 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1634 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- January 1 - 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...
perform CymbelineCymbelineCymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
at the court of King Charles I of EnglandCharles I of EnglandCharles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. - January 22 - The King's Men perform Davenant'sWilliam DavenantSir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...
The WitsThe WitsThe Wits is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Sir William Davenant. It was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on January 19, 1634; it was staged by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. It was first published in quarto by Richard Meighen in 1636...
at the Blackfriars TheatreBlackfriars TheatreBlackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...
. - February 3 - 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...
's spectacular 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...
The Triumph of PeaceThe Triumph of PeaceThe Triumph of Peace was a Caroline era masque, "invented and written" by James Shirley, performed on February 3, 1634 and published the same year. The production was designed by Inigo Jones.-Inspiration:...
is staged in London. A repeat performance takes place on February 13. - February 6 - Shirley's play The GamesterThe GamesterThe Gamester is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy of manners written by James Shirley, premiered in 1633 and first published in 1637. The play is noteworthy for its realistic and detailed picture of gambling in its era....
is performed at court. - February 18 - Thomas CarewThomas CarewThomas Carew was an English poet, among the 'Cavalier' group of Caroline poets.-Biography:He was the son of Sir Matthew Carew, master in chancery, and his wife, Alice daughter of Sir John Rivers, Lord Mayor of the City of London and widow of Ingpen...
's masque Coelum Britannicum is staged at Whitehall Palace. - April 7 - The King's Men perform ChapmanGeorge ChapmanGeorge Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
's Bussy D'AmboisBussy D'AmboisThe Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or "contemporary history," Bussy D'Ambois is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in...
at court. - April 8 - The Two Noble KinsmenThe Two Noble KinsmenThe Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean tragicomedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. Its plot derives from "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales....
is entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' RegisterThe Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
; it is published later in the year. - May 1 - Lodowick CarlellLodowick CarlellLodowick Carlell , also Carliell or Carlile, was a seventeenth-century English playwright, active mainly during the Caroline era and the Commonwealth period.-Courtier:...
's play The Spartan Lady (now lost) is performed. - May 21 - A play called Lisander and Callista is performed — probably a version of the FletcherJohn Fletcher (playwright)John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
/MassingerPhilip MassingerPhilip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
collaboration The Lovers' ProgressThe Lovers' ProgressThe Lovers' Progress, also known as The Wandering Lovers, or Cleander, or Lisander and Calista, is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger...
. - July 30 - Ben Jonson's final 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...
, Love's Welcome at BolsoverLove's Welcome at BolsoverLove's Welcome at Bolsover is the final masque composed by Ben Jonson. It was performed on July 30, 1634, three years before the poet's death, and published in 1641....
, is performed at Bolsover Castle. - The Académie françaiseAcadémie françaiseL'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
is founded by Cardinal Richelieu. - The Duke de Medinaceli forces Francisco de QuevedoFrancisco de QuevedoFrancisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo...
into a short-lived marriage with Doña Esperanza de Aragón.
New books
- Moses AmyrautMoses AmyrautMoses Amyraut , also known as Amyraldus, was a French Protestant theologian and metaphysician. He is perhaps most noted for his modifications to Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Christ's atonement, which is referred to as Amyraldism or Amyraldianism.-Life:Born at Bourgueil, in the valley...
- Traité de la predestination - Alonso Jerónimo de Salas BarbadilloAlonso Jerónimo de Salas BarbadilloAlonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo was a Spanish novelist and playwright, born in Madrid, and educated in Alcalá de Henares and Valladolid....
- El Curioso y fabio Alexandro - John Blaxton - The English Usurer
- William Haydon - The True Picture and Relation of Prince Henry...
- Thomas Herbert - Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique
- Sir Thomas MuffetThomas MuffetThomas Muffet was an English naturalist and physician. He is best known for his Puritan beliefs, his study of insects in regards to medicine , his support of the Paracelsian system of medicine, and his emphasis on the importance of experience over reputation in the field of medicine.-Early...
- Theatrum Insectorum
New drama
- Juan Ruiz de AlarcónJuan Ruiz de AlarcónJuan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza , one of the greatest Novohispanic dramatists of the Golden Age, was born in New Spain .-Genealogy:...
- La verdad sospechosa (published) - Richard BromeRichard BromeRichard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.-Life:Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity...
& Thomas HeywoodThomas HeywoodThomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
- The Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire Witches is a Caroline era stage play, written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, published in 1634. The play is a topical melodrama on the subject of the witchcraft controversy that arose in Lancashire in 1633.-Performance:... - William DavenantWilliam DavenantSir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...
- The WitsThe WitsThe Wits is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Sir William Davenant. It was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on January 19, 1634; it was staged by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. It was first published in quarto by Richard Meighen in 1636...
- - Love and Honour, also known as The Courage of Love
- - The Temple of Love (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...
)
- John FordJohn Ford (dramatist)John Ford was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.-Life and work:...
(& Thomas Dekker?) - Perkin WarbeckPerkin WarbeckPerkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. By claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV, one of the Princes in the Tower, Warbeck was a significant threat to the newly established Tudor Dynasty,...
published - Thomas Heywood - A Maidenhead Well Lost published
- Ben JonsonBen JonsonBenjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
- Love's Welcome at BolsoverLove's Welcome at BolsoverLove's Welcome at Bolsover is the final masque composed by Ben Jonson. It was performed on July 30, 1634, three years before the poet's death, and published in 1641.... - 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...
- ComusComus (John Milton)Comus is a masque in honour of chastity, written by John Milton. It was first presented on Michaelmas, 1634, before John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater at Ludlow Castle in celebration of the Earl's new post as Lord President of Wales.Known colloquially as Comus, the mask's actual full title is A...
(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...
) - Thomas NabbesThomas NabbesThomas Nabbes was an English dramatist.He was born in humble circumstances in Worcestershire, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1621...
- Tottenham Court - 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 ExampleThe ExampleThe Example is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley, first published in 1637. The play has repeatedly been acclaimed both as one of Shirley's best comedies and one of the best works of its generation...
- - The OpportunityThe OpportunityThe Opportunity is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley, published in 1640. The play has been called "a capital little comedy, fairly bubbling over with clever situations and charming character."...
- - The Triumph of PeaceThe Triumph of PeaceThe Triumph of Peace was a Caroline era masque, "invented and written" by James Shirley, performed on February 3, 1634 and published the same year. The production was designed by Inigo Jones.-Inspiration:...
(masque)
- - The Opportunity
Poetry
- Richard CrashawRichard CrashawRichard Crashaw , English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.-Life:...
- Epigrammatum sacrorum liber ("A Book of Sacred Epigrams," in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
) - William HabingtonWilliam HabingtonWilliam Habington was an English poet.He was born at Hindlip Hall, Worcestershire, and belonged to a well-known Catholic family...
- Castara (published anonymously) - Johann von RistJohann von RistJohann von Rist was a German poet and dramatist best known for the hymns he wrote.-Life:He was born at Ottensen in Holstein on 8 March 1607; the son of the Lutheran pastor of that place, Caspar Rist...
- Musa Teutonica
Births
- March - Madame de la FayetteMarie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la FayetteMarie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette , better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer, the author of La Princesse de Clèves, France's first historical novel and one of the earliest novels in literature.- Life :Christened Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, she was...
, novelist (died 1693) - July 14 - Pasquier QuesnelPasquier QuesnelPasquier Quesnel was a French Jansenist theologian.He was born in Paris, and, after graduating from the Sorbonne with distinction in 1653, he joined the French Oratory in 1657...
, theologian (died 1719) - December 15 - Thomas Hansen KingoThomas Hansen KingoThomas Hansen Kingo was a Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near Copenhagen. His work marked the high point of Danish baroque poetry....
, poet (died 1703) - date unknown - Pierre ThomasPierre ThomasPierre Thomas, sieur du Fossé was a French scholar and author, and was the son of a master of accounts at Rouen. He was sent as a child to be educated to the Jansenists at Port-Royal des Champs. There he received his bent towards the life of a recluse, and even of a hermit, which drew him to...
, memoirist (died 1698)
Deaths
- May 12 - George ChapmanGeorge ChapmanGeorge Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
, dramatist, poet and translator Born c.1559 - June 25 - John MarstonJohn MarstonJohn Marston was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods...
, dramatist (born 1576) - date unknown - Randle CotgraveRandle CotgraveRandle Cotgrave , may possibly be Randal, son of William Cotgreve of Christleton in Cheshire, who is mentioned in the pedigree of the Cotgreve family, contained in Harl. MS. 1500, fol...
, lexicographer (born 1587) - probable - John WebsterJohn WebsterJohn Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
, dramatist (born c.1580)