1623 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1623 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- February 2 - 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 Twelfth Night at Court on Candlemas. - July 20 - Henry Herbert (Sir Henry as of August) becomes the deputy of Sir John Ashley, Master of the RevelsMaster of the RevelsThe Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, and takes over the office's duties. From 1623 until the theatres close in 1642, Herbert effectively controls professional drama in England. - December - The First FolioFirst FolioMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
edition of Shakespeare's works is published. - ProcopiusProcopiusProcopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
's long-lost Secret History is rediscovered in the Vatican Library. - François le Métel de BoisrobertFrançois le Métel de BoisrobertFrançois le Métel de Boisrobert was a French poet.-Biography:He was born at Caen, and trained as a lawyer, practising for some time at the bar at Rouen. About 1622 he went to Paris, and by the next year had established a footing at court, for he had a share in the ballet of the Bacchanales...
comes under the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu.
New books
- Francis BaconFrancis BaconFrancis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
- De Augmentis Scientiarum - Tommaso CampanellaTommaso CampanellaTommaso Campanella OP , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.-Biography:...
- Civitas Solis ("The City of the SunThe City of the SunThe City of the Sun is a philosophical work by the Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella. It is an important early utopian work.The work was written in Italian in 1602, shortly after Campanella's imprisonment for heresy and sedition...
") - William Drummond of HawthorndenWilliam Drummond of HawthorndenWilliam Drummond , called "of Hawthornden", was a Scottish poet.-Life:Drummond was born at Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian. His father, John Drummond, was the first laird of Hawthornden; and his mother was Susannah Fowler, sister of William Fowler, poet and courtier...
- Flowers of Sion - James MabbeJames MabbeJames Mabbe or Mab was an English scholar and poet, and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He was involved in translations from Spanish, in particular of some of the work of Cervantes...
- Guzmán de AlfaracheGuzmán de AlfaracheGuzmán de Alfarache is a picaresque novel written by Mateo Alemán and published in two parts: the first in Madrid in 1599 with the title Primera parte de Guzmán de Alfarache, and the second in 1604, titled Segunda parte de la vida de Guzmán de Alfarache, atalaya de la vida humana.The works tells...
, translated from the Spanish-language original of Mateo AlemánMateo AlemánMateo Alemán y de Enero was a Spanish novelist and writer.He graduated at Seville University in 1564, studied later at Salamanca and Alcalá, and from 1571 to 1588 held a post in the treasury; in 1594 he was arrested on suspicion of malversation, but was speedily released... - Giambattista Marini - Adone
- Antonio de Leon PineloAntonio de Leon PineloAntonio de León Pinelo was a Spanish-colonial historian .Pinelo was born in Cordova de Tucuman, and educated in the College of the Jesuits of Lima. He travelled to Spain in 1612 and became attorney of the council of the Indies...
- Discurso de la importancia, de la forma, y de la disposicion de la colleccion de las leyes de Indias - George WitherGeorge WitherGeorge Wither was an English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist. He was a prolific writer who adopted a deliberate plainness of style; he was several times imprisoned. C. V...
- Hymnes and Songs of the Church
New drama
- Anonymous (Robert Ward?) - Fucus Histriomastix
- 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...
- A Fault in Friendship (lost), his earliest known play - Pedro Calderón de la BarcaPedro Calderón de la BarcaPedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
- Amor, honor y poder
- La selva confusa
- Los Macabeos
- Thomas Dekker (& John DayJohn Day (dramatist)John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
?) - The Wonder of a Kingdom - Thomas Dekker, 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:...
, & William RowleyWilliam RowleyWilliam Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
(?) - The Spanish GypsyThe Spanish GypsyThe Spanish Gypsy is an English Jacobean tragicomedy, dating from 1623. It is interesting to modern readers, students, and scholars principally because of the question of its authorship.... - Thomas DrueThomas DrueThomas Drue or Drewe was an English playwright.He wrote The Life of the Duchess of Suffolk and The Bloody Banquet.Drue is the author of a historical play, ‘The Life of the Dvtches of Svffolke,’ 1631, 4to, which has been wrongly attributed by Langbaine and others to Thomas Heywood...
- The Duchess of Suffolk - John 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...
and Philip 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....
- 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... - John Fletcher and William RowleyWilliam RowleyWilliam Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
- The Maid in the MillThe Maid in the MillThe Maid in the Mill is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and William Rowley. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.-Performance:... - John Hacket - Loiola
- 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...
- Time Vindicated to Himself and to His HonoursTime Vindicated to Himself and to His HonoursTime Vindicated to Himself and to his Honours was a late Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones...
(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...
) - Philip 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....
- The BondmanThe BondmanThe Bondman is a later Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger, first published in 1624. The play has been called "the finest of the more serious tragicomedies" of Massinger.-Performance and publication:...
performed, The Duke of MilanThe Duke of MilanThe Duke of Milan is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger. First published in 1623, the play is generally considered among the author's finest achievements in drama.-Performance:...
published - Robert Ward (?) - Fucus Histriomastix
- 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...
- The Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
and The Devil's Law CaseThe Devil's Law CaseThe Devil's Law Case is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Webster, and first published in 1623.-Date:The play's date of authorship and early performance history is unknown. The events upon which the play is based occurred in 1610, so that the drama must post-date that year...
published
Births
- June 19 - 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...
, philosopher (died 1662) - October 17 - Francis TurretinFrancis TurretinFrancis Turretin was a Swiss-Italian Protestant theologian.Turretin is especially known as a zealous opponent of the theology of the Academy of Saumur , as an earnest defender of the Calvinistic orthodoxy represented by the Synod of Dort, and as one of the authors of the Helvetic...
, theologian (died 1687) - date unknown
- Margaret CavendishMargaret CavendishMargaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, a prolific writer, and a scientist. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas...
, Duchess of Newcastle, biographer, poet and philosopher (died 1673) - Henri SauvalHenri SauvalHenri Sauval was a French historian.Son of an advocate in the Parlement, he was born in Paris, and baptized on the 5th of March 1623. He devoted most of his life to researches among the archives of his native city, and in 1656 even obtained a licence to print his Paris ancien et moderne; but on...
, historian (died 1676)
- Margaret Cavendish
Deaths
- January 15 - Paolo SarpiPaolo SarpiFra Paolo Sarpi was a Venetian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer. His most important roles were as a canon lawyer and historian active on behalf of the Venetian Republic.- Early years :...
, church historian (born 1552) - August 6 - Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married in 1582. She outlived her husband by seven years...
, widow of William Shakespeare (born 1556) - November 9 - William CamdenWilliam CamdenWilliam Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
, historian (born 1551) - November 11 - Philippe de MornayPhilippe de MornayPhilippe de Mornay , seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the Monarchomaques .- Biography :...
, Protestant writer (born 1549) - date unknown
- John Cameron, theologian (born c1579)
- Philipp ClüverPhilipp ClüverPhilipp Clüver was an Early Modern German geographer and historian.-Life:...
, historian (born 1580) - TulsidasTulsidasTulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
, Hindu philosopher and poet (born 1532)