1631 in literature

This article is a summary of the literary events and publications of 1631.

Events

• January 9 – Love's Triumph Through Callipolis, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace.
• January 11 – The Master of the Revels refuses to license Philip Massinger's new play, Believe as You List, because of its seditious content.
• February 22 – Chloridia, the year's second Jonson/Jones masque, is performed.
• June 10 – The King's Men perform Pericles, Prince of Tyre at the Globe Theatre.
• The young Blaise Pascal moves with his family to Paris.^[1]
• Thomas Hobbes is employed as a tutor by the Cavendish family, to teach the future Earl of Devonshire.^[2]
• Roger Williams arrives in Boston, Mass.
• Publication of the "Wicked Bible" by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, an edition of the King James Version of the Bible in which a typesetting erratum leaves the seventh of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14) with the word not omitted from the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery". Copies are withdrawn and about a year later the publishers are called to the Star Chamber, fined £300 and have their licence to print revoked.

New books

Births

• January 1 – Katharine Philips (Orinda), English poet (died 1664)
• February 22 – Peder Syv, Danish philologist, folklorist and priest (died 1702)
• March 16 – René Le Bossu, French critic (died 1680)
• July 15 – Richard Cumberland, English philosopher (died 1718)
• August 9 – John Dryden, English poet and dramatist (died 1700)
• October 18 – Michael Wigglesworth, English-born American poet and minister (died 1705)
• Unknown dates
  • John Barret, English religious writer and Presbyterian minister (died 1713)
  • John Phillips, English satirist and nephew of John Milton (died 1706)

Deaths

• February 7 – Gabriel Harvey, English poet and author (born c. 1545)
• March 31 – John Donne, English poet (born 1572)
• May – Samuel Harsnett, English religious writer and archbishop (born 1561)
• May 6 – Robert Bruce Cotton, English antiquary and founder of Cotton Library (born 1570)
• July – Enrico Caterino Davila, Italian historian (born 1576)
• July 28 – Guillén de Castro y Bellvis, Spanish dramatist (born 1569)
• September 22 – Cardinal Federico Borromeo, Italian archbishop and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (born 1564)
• October 26 – Lewis Bayly, Welsh or Scottish-born religious writer and bishop writing in English (unknown year of birth)
• November 29 – Edmond Richer, French theologian (born 1559)
• December 23 – Michael Drayton, English poet (born 1563)

References