1631 in literature

The year 1631 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

*January 9 - "Love's Triumph Through Callipolis", a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace.
*February 22 - "Chloridia", the year's second Jonson/Jones masque, is performed.
*The young Blaise Pascal moves with his family to Paris.
*Thomas Hobbes is employed as a tutor by the Cavendish family.
*Roger Williams arrives in Boston, Mass.
*The Master of the Revels refuses to license Philip Massinger's new play, "Believe as You List", because of its seditious content.
*June 10 - The King's Men perform "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" at the Globe Theatre.

New books

*Johann Philipp Abelin - "Arma Suecica", volume 1
*Moses Amyraut - "Traité des religions"
*Collected works of Jacobus Arminius published posthumously in Frankfurt
*Robert Fludd - "Medicina Catholica" (Volume 2)
*Thomas Harriot - "Artis analyticae praxis"
*James Mabbe - "Celestina, or the Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea", a 300-page closet drama or "novel in dialogue," translated from the Spanish-language original of Fernando de Rojas
*William Oughtred - "Clavis mathematicae"

New drama

*Anonymous - "Fair Em" published
*George Chapman - "Caesar and Pompey" published
*Henry Chettle - "Hoffman" published
*Thomas Goffe - "The Raging Turk" published
*Peter Hausted - "Senile Odium"
*Thomas Heywood - "The Fair Maid of the West, Parts 1 and 2" published
*Ben Jonson - "Chloridia" (masque)
** - "Love's Triumph Through Callipolis" (masque)
*Ralph Knevet - "Rhodon and Iris" (masque)
*James Mabbe - "The Spanish Bawd" published
*Jean Mairet - "La Silvanire, ou la Morte-vive"
*Shackerley Marmion - "Holland's Leaguer" runs for a highly-unusual six straight performances
*John Marston, with William Barkstead & Lewis Machin (?) - "The Insatiate Countess" published
*Philip Massinger - "Believe as You List"
** - "The Emperor of the East"
*Thomas May - "Antigone, the Theban Princess" published
*Jean Rotrou - "L'Hypocondriaque"
*James Shirley - "The Traitor"
** - "Love's Cruelty"
** - "The Humorous Courtier"
** - "Love Tricks" published as "The School of Compliment"
*Aurelian Townshend - "Albion's Triumph" (masque)
*Robert Ward (?) - "Fucus Histriomastix"
*Arthur Wilson - "The Swisser"
*Richard Zouche - "The Sophister"

Poetry

*Richard Braithwaite - "The English Gentleman"
** - "The English Gentlewoman"

Births

*January 1 - Katharine Philips, poet, "Orinda" (died 1664)
*March 6 - René Le Bossu, critic (died 1680)
*August 9 - John Dryden, poet and dramatist (died 1700)
*"date unknown" - Richard Cumberland, philosopher (died 1718)
*"date unknown" - John Phillips, satirist and nephew of John Milton (died 1706)
*"date unknown" - Michael Wigglesworth, poet (died 1705)

Deaths

*March 31 - John Donne, poet (born 1572)
*May - Samuel Harsnett, religious writer (born 1561)
*May 6 - Robert Bruce Cotton, founder of the Cotton Library (born 1570)
*July - Enrico Caterino Davila, historian (born 1576)
*July 28 - Guillén de Castro y Bellvis, dramatist (born 1569)
*September 22 - Cardinal Federico Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (born 1564)
*December 23 - Michael Drayton, poet (born 1563)