1658 in literature

Events

• March 5 – A play adapted from The Taming of the Shrew is performed by students of the Gymnasium in Zittau, the earliest record of a Shakespearean comedy produced anywhere in the Holy Roman Empire; authorship is attributed to Christian Keymann, but remains disputed. This climate inspires the Silesian playwright Andreas Gryphius. Also this year, he prints one of the first secular Baroque works in German literature, the verse comedy Absurda Comica oder Herr Peter Squenz. Borrowing from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gryphius' text rejects Meistersinger culture, while also "reinvigorating the tradition" of German-language theater after the long hiatus of the Thirty Years' War.
• April – Blaise Pascal enters the creative period that will lead to his Pensées, with a lecture for his Jansenist friends at Port-Royal-des-Champs Abbey, and later with a series of scattered notes.
• May 29 – Dara Shukoh, heir-apparent to the crown of the Mughal Empire, is defeated by his younger brother, Aurangzeb, in the Battle of Samugarh. Dara's overtures toward Vedanta and Sufism, including his promotion of the Upanishads, are condemned, as Aurangzeb formally adheres to Islamic fundamentalism – and in practice to a less syncretic theism. The new regime has a working alliance with the Pashtun warrior-poet Khushal Khattak, until the latter is deposed and arrested in 1663.
• July 6 – Teimuraz, deposed ruler of Kakheti and pioneer of Georgian poetry, is received in Moscow, Tsardom of Russia. An incident involving Bogdan Khitrovo contributes to the internal conflicts within the Russian Orthodox Church, generating the Raskol.
• September 5 – Forces of the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate, under the command of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, storm into the Transylvanian capital of Feyérvár (Alba Iulia). The city is devastated, and its role in fostering Renaissance humanism is forever ended: though restored, the Bethlen Collegium is transferred to Nagyenyed (Aiud). Approximately 20,000 books are destroyed in the raid, and at least 53 students are killed. This attack also brings to a standstill the Transylvanian printing press, which had been established around 1622. A new press is founded at Nagyszeben (Sibiu).
• September 13 – Death of Oliver Cromwell in England, inaugurating the transition from Protectorate to Restoration. The event inspires Andrew Marvell to write "A Poem upon the Death of his Late Highness the Lord Protector"; this piece is not included in the official edition of Cromwellian panegyrics, which has verse by John Dryden, Thomas Sprat, and Edmund Waller. All these poets, alongside John Milton, will be ridiculed in Richard Watson's 1659 pamphlet, The Panegyrike and the Storme.
• c. October 24 – Molière arrives in Paris to act at the Louvre Palace. He performs with his troupe in front of King Louis XIV in Pierre Corneille's tragedy Nicomède and in his own farce Le Docteur Amoureux. The troupe is granted Monsieur's patronage and allowed to use the Petit-Bourbon, alongside Giacomo Torelli's rival company.

• *Arakel of Tabriz is persuaded by Jacob IV, pontiff of the Armenian Apostolic Church to resume work on his Book of Histories, which will be completed in 1662.
• *Czech educationist John Amos Comenius publishes Orbis Pictus, "internationally recognised as the first text written specifically for children." In associating Latin words with "the representation of most things capable of being set out in Pictures" it endures as "extremely popular in seventeenth-century Europe." From his home in the Dutch Republic, Comenius also directs a Bible translation into the Ottoman Turkish language. The endeavor, which also involves Jacobus Golius, Levinus Warner and Wojciech Bobowski, is still unfinished by the time of Comenius' death in 1670.
• *Étienne de Flacourt of the French East India Company publishes his part history, part memoir, work on Madagascar. Partly written as a plea for colonial sponsorship, it is dedicated to Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances. Flacourt's book introduces various theories, including one about the Jewish and Arabic origins of the Malagasy people; it is additionally noted for explaining the establishment of Fort Dauphin as an enterprise "for profit and gain, no matter how draped in the beautiful colors of religion."
• *Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro completes Przysłowia mów potocznych, containing a selection of Polish proverbs and his own aphorisms. The book is also a justification for Sarmatism and "Golden Liberty", with hints of xenophobia.
• *In Temeşvar Eyalet, Mihail Halici Sr. begins his translations from the Psalms, using Clément Marot's version in a Hungarian intermediary. These are noted as early samples of Romanian-language poetry, as well as for discarding Cyrillic in favor of Romanization.
• *Johann Heinrich Hottinger, a scholar based in Zürich, publishes his Promtuarium sive Bibliotheca Orientalis, which becomes a main reference work for Orientalism.
• *Hu Zhenheng's comprehensive collection of Tang poetry begins publication; the tenth and final volume, containing Hu's own literary criticism, is the first to be printed.
• *Mihnea III, Prince of Wallachia, begins his purge of boyardom. The scholar and poet Udriște Năsturel, who has been serving as Spatharios, is reportedly among those slaughtered in Bucharest.
• *Edward Phillips continues the Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans' Government unto the Death of King James to this date.
• *The Polish Brethren are repressed and expelled, prompting poet Wacław Potocki to embrace Catholicism.
• *Georg Stiernhielm, a nobleman of the Swedish Empire, publishes his epic poem Hercules. Inspired in part by Jacob Cats' blasons, it stimulates a Baroque in Swedish literature. Hercules is also the first Swedish poem in hexameters.

New books

Fiction

• Antoine Furetière – ''Nouvelle Allégorique, ou histoire des derniers troubles arrivés au royaume d'éloquence''

Children and young people

• John Amos Comenius – ''Orbis Pictus''

Drama

• William Chamberlayne – Love's Victory
• Aston Cockayne – Trappolin Suppos'd a Prince
• William Davenant – The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru
• Jean Ogier de Gombauld – Les Danaïdes: tragédie
• Andreas Gryphius – Absurda Comica oder Herr Peter Squenz
• Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley – The Witch of Edmonton
• William Lower – The Enchanted Lovers
• Thomas May – The Old Couple
• Jasper Mayne
• *The City Match
• *The Amorous War
• Thomas Meriton
• *Love and War
• *The Wandering Lover
• Gilbert Swinhoe – Unhappy Fair Irene
• Leonard Willan – ''Orgula, or the Fatal Error''

Poetry

• Richard Brathwait – "The Honest Ghost; or, A Voice from the Vault"
• Georges de Brébeuf – Poésies diverses
• Jacob Cats – Proefsteen van den Trou-ringh
• Aston Cockayne – Small Poems of Divers Sorts
• Sidney Godolphin and Edmund Waller – The Passion of Dido for Aeneas
• Andrew Marvell – "A Poem upon the Death of his Late Highness the Lord Protector"
• Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant – Dernier recueil
• Georg Stiernhielm – Hercules
• Jan van Vliet – ''Caecilia Bredana, sive ad Serenissimum Magnae Britanniae, Franciae atque Hibemise Regem Carolum II. Elegia et alia''

Non-fiction

• Savoy Declaration
• The Whole Duty of Man
• Thomas Browne
• *The Garden of Cyrus
• *Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial
• Jean Desmarets – Les Délices de l'esprit
• John Dodderidge – The Several Opinions of Sundry Learned Antiquaries
• Richard Farnworth – A Confession and Profession of Faith in God
• Étienne de Flacourt
• *Dictionnaire de la langue de Madagascar
• *Histoire de la grande isle de Madagascar
• Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro – Przysłowia mów potocznych
• John Gadbury – Genethlialogia, or the Doctrine of Nativities
• Pierre Gassendi – Syntagma philosophicum
• Johann Heinrich Hottinger – Promtuarium sive Bibliotheca Orientalis
• Hu Zhenheng – Tang yin gui qian
• Christiaan Huygens – Horologium
• Kamalakara – Siddhāntatattvaviveka
• Antonio de León Pinelo
• *Acuerdos del Concejo de Indias
• *Anales o historia de Madrid desde el nacimiento de Cristo Señor nuestro hasta el año 1658
• Samuel Morland – The History of the Evangelical Churches in the Valleys of Piemont
• John Owen – Of the Divine Originall, Authority, Self-evidencing Light, and Power of the Scriptures
• Edward Phillips
• *Mysteries of Love and Eloquence
• *A New World in Words, or a General Dictionary
• Thomas Willis – ''Diatribae duae medico-philosophicae''

Births

• February 18 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French philosopher
• March 23 – Giovanni Maria Ciocchi, Tuscan painter and art critic
• March 30 – Muro Kyūsō, Japanese philosopher
• May 24 – Timothy Rogers, English essayist and self-help writer
• July 10 – Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Bolognese naturalist and travel writer
• August 16 – Ralph Thoresby, English historian
• August 18 – Jan František Beckovský, Czech historian and theologian
• August 28 – Honoré Tournély, French Catholic theologian
• September 1 – Jacques Bernard, Dutch journalist and Huguenot theologian
• September 4 – Luis de Salazar y Castro, Spanish historian
• September 11 – Maria do Ceo, Portuguese novelist, playwright and poet
• September 16 – John Dennis, English dramatist and critic
• October 11 – Christian Heinrich Postel, Saxon poet and librettist
• October 21 – Henri de Boulainvilliers, French historian, philosopher and translator
• November 4 – Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, Georgian fabulist and lexicographer
• December 7 – Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha, Ottoman historian
• Unknown dates
• *Elizabeth Barry, English actress
• *Awnsham Churchill, English printer and bookseller
• *William Curtain, Irish poet and historian
• *Richard Duke, English satirist and poet
• *Shridhar Swami Nazarekar, Marathi poet and philosopher
• *Stefan Yavorsky, Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox theologian
• Probable year of birth – James Hog, Scottish Presbyterian theologian

Deaths

• January 1 – Caspar Sibelius, Dutch Reformed theologian
• January 9 – Pierre-Jean Fabre, French physician, alchemist and essayist
• January 15 – John Colgan, Irish historian
• February 10 – Gerard Langbaine the elder, English philosopher and polemicist
• February 15 – Samuel Hoard, English Arminian polemicist
• March 5 – Francisco López de Zárate, Spanish poet and playwright
• March 6 – Ivan Bunić Vučić, Ragusan politician and poet
• April 7 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish Jesuit mystic and philosopher
• April 16 – Constantine Jessop, English Anglican theologian
• April 19 – Christoph Köler, Silesian poet and biographer
• April 29 – John Cleveland, English poet
• May
• *Patrick Hamilton, Scottish poet
• *John Wright, English printer and bookseller
• May 10 – Robert Waring, English polemicist, poet, and Anglican priest
• May 20 – Bartholomew Holzhauser, Bavarian Catholic mystic
• May 31 – Benjamin Rudyerd, English poet and politician
• June 18 – Louis Cappel, French historian and Huguenot theologian
• c. June 15 – Henry Rogers, English polemicist and Anglican priest
• July 18 – Álvaro Semedo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary and travel writer
• August 11 – Antoine de Cousu, French music theorist and composer
• September? – Nehemiah Wallington, English Puritan chronicler and book collector
• September 17
• *Kaspar von Barth, Brandenburgian philologist
• *Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Franconian-born poet and translator
• September 21 – Nuruddin ar-Raniri, Gujarati Islamic mystic and Malay lexicographer
• September 26 – Francisco de Borja y Aragón, Spanish Peruvian poet, essayist and statesman
• October 1 – Kim Yuk, Korean philosopher and literary theorist
• October 9 – Anthony Farindon, English Anglican theologian
• October 20 – Louis Cellot, French poet and Jesuit theologian
• November 4 – Antoine Le Maistre, French lawyer, translator, and Jansenist theologian
• November 5 – Thomas Bancroft, English poet
• November 6 – Pierre du Ryer, French dramatist
• November 15 – Jacobus Revius, Dutch poet, theologian and church historian
• November 30 – Andreas Sparman, Swedish physician, food writer and poet
• December 1 – Robert Harris, English Puritan theologian
• December 6 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish Jesuit novelist and philosopher
• December 20 – Jean Jannon, Genevan printer
• Unknown dates
• John Allibond, English satirist and poet
• *Gabriel Bocángel, Spanish poet and dramatist
• *Christopher Cartwright, English polemicist, Anglican theologian, and historian
• *Nikoloz Cholokashvili, Georgian priest, lexicographer and publisher
• *Gil González Dávila, Spanish historian and biographer
• *Abba Gorgoryos, Ethiopian priest and lexicographer
• *Carlo Ridolfi, Venetian painter and biographer
• *Sen no Sōtan, Japanese poet
• *Pedro de Torres Rámila, Spanish poet, satirist and Renaissance humanist
• *Marcus Vulson de la Colombière, French heraldist, poet and historian
• probable
• *John Jones of Gellilyfdy, Welsh scribe and book collector
• *Udriște Năsturel, Wallachian scholar and poet