Bunyan in Bedford Jail
1678
John Bunyan, imprisoned repeatedly for preaching without a license, had used his latest stint in Bedford county jail to finish Pilgrim's Progress. He had written with an iron stylus on scraps of paper and smuggled them out to printers. A book that would be read across the English-speaking world for three centuries came out of a cell.
In context
Also in 1678 (3 other events on record)
- Pilgrim's Progress Published · Europe · Culture
- Madame de La Fayette's La Princesse de Cleves · Europe · Culture
- Popish Plot Fabricated · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
- Before: 1677: Racine Premieres Phedre
- After: May 27, 1679: Habeas Corpus Act
Before and after in Culture
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.