1644 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1644 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- April 15 - The second Globe TheatreGlobe TheatreThe Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
is demolished by the Puritan government to make room for new housing. - With the London theatres closed by the Puritan regime, playwriting activity shifts to closet dramaCloset dramaA closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. A related form, the "closet screenplay," developed during the 20th century.-Form:...
. The 1644 publication of an anonymous satire against Archbishop William LaudWilliam LaudWilliam Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, titled Canterbury His Change of Diet, is one mark of the shift. - The publication of The Bloody Tenet of Persecution marks the start of a major controversy between Roger WilliamsRoger Williams (theologian)Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
and John Cotton on religious tolerance in a CalvinistCalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
context. The controversy plays out through a series of works issued by both men in the coming years, down to Williams' The Bloody Tenet Yet More Bloody (1652).
New books
- René DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
- Principia Philosophiae - Marin MersenneMarin MersenneMarin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne was a French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, often referred to as the "father of acoustics"...
- Cogitata physico-mathematica - 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...
- AreopagiticaAreopagiticaAreopagitica: A speech of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed printing to the Parliament of England is a 1644 prose polemical tract by English author John Milton against censorship...
- Of EducationOf EducationThe tractate Of Education was published in 1644, first appearing anonymously as a single eight-page quarto sheet . Presented as a letter written in response to a request from the Puritan educational reformer Samuel Hartlib, it represents John Milton's most comprehensive statement on educational...
- Areopagitica
- Evangelista TorricelliEvangelista TorricelliEvangelista Torricelli was an Italian physicist and mathematician, best known for his invention of the barometer.-Biography:Evangelista Torricelli was born in Faenza, part of the Papal States...
- Opera geometrica - Giulio Strozzi (editor) - Le glorie della signora Anna Renzi romana (published in VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
; a tribute to Anna RenziAnna RenziAnna Renzi was a leading Italian opera singer of the mid-17th century, renowned for her acting ability as well as her voice. She has been described as the first prima donna. She sang in Rome and Venice, where she appeared in the role of Ottavia in the premiere of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di...
, the "first diva") - Roger WilliamsRoger Williams (theologian)Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
- The Bloody Tenet of Persecution
Births
- August 6 - Louise de la VallièreLouise de La VallièreLouise de La Vallière was a mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. She later became the Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours in her own right...
, mistress of King Louis XIV of FranceLouis XIV of FranceLouis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, later the subject of a novel by Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
(died 1710) - October 2 - François-Timoléon de ChoisyFrançois-Timoléon de ChoisyFrançois Timoléon, abbé de Choisy was a French author.-Life:He was born in Paris. His father was attached to the household of the duke of Orléans, and his mother, who was on intimate terms with Anne of Austria, was regularly called upon to amuse Louis XIV...
, memoirist (died 1724) - date unknown - Matsuo BashōMatsuo Basho, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...
, Japanese poet (d. 1694)
Deaths
- January - William ChillingworthWilliam ChillingworthWilliam Chillingworth was a controversial English churchman.-Early life:He was born in Oxford, where his father served as mayor; William Laud was his godfather. In June 1618 he became a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, of which he was made a fellow in June 1628...
, controversial religious writer (born 1602) - March 5 - Ferrante PallavicinoFerrante PallavicinoFerrante Pallavicino was an Italian writer of lampoons and satires which, according to Edward Muir, "were so popular that booksellers and printers bought them from him at a premium." Pallavicino's scandalous satires, which cost him his head at the age of twenty-eight, were all published under...
, satirist (born 1615) - September 7 - Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, historian (born 1579)
- September 8 - 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...
, poet (born 1592) - November 10 - Luís Vélez de GuevaraLuís Vélez de GuevaraLuis Vélez de Guevara was a Spanish dramatist and novelist.Velez de Guevara was born at Écija and was of Jewish converso descent...
, dramatist and novelist (born 1579) - November 21 - Raphael Sobiehrd-MnishovskyRaphael Sobiehrd-MnishovskyRaphael Sobiehrd-Mnishovsky of Sebuzin and of Horstein was a Bohemian lawyer and writer, who held various secretarial, diplomatic, and judicial posts under Rudolf II, Mathias, Ferdinand II, and, Ferdinand III, under whom Raphael was the attorney-general.Mnishovsky was also a poet and...
, lawyer and writer (born 1580) - date unknown - Xu XiakeXu XiakeXu Xiake , born Xu Hongzu , courtesy name Zhenzhi , was a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility. He traveled throughout China for more than 30 years, documenting his travels extensively...
, travel writer and geographer (born 1587)