1644 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1644. Events April 15 – The second Globe Theatre is demolished by the Puritan government to make room for housing. November 23 – The publication in London of Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England. December (end) – English Puritan controversialist Hezekiah Woodward is questioned for two days about "scandalous" pamphlets. With the London theatres closed by the Puritan regime, playwriting activity shifts to closet drama. The publication of an anonymous satire against Archbishop William Laud, 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 Williams and John Cotton on religious tolerance in a Calvinist context. The controversy plays out through a series of works issued by both men in the coming years, through to Williams' The Bloody Tenet Yet More Bloody (1652). New books Prose John Milton Areopagitica (tract against censorship) Of Education Roger Williams – The Bloody Tenet of Persecution Francisco de Quevedo Vida de Marco Bruto Vida de San Pablo Apóstol Juan Eusebio Nieremberg – Vida del santo padre y gran siervo de Dios el beato Francisco de Borja René Descartes – Principia Philosophiae Marin Mersenne – Cogitata physico-mathematica Evangelista Torricelli – Opera geometrica Giulio Strozzi (editor) – Le glorie della signora Anna Renzi romana (published in Venice; a tribute to Anna Renzi, the "first diva")