The Year of Wonders

Battle of Lowestoft

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the first time this phrase "Annus Mirabilis" was used, was as the title of the poem written by the famous and talented English poet John Dryden.  This poem was written in the year 1666, and published the following year.

                The meaning of this Latin phrase is “a year of particularly notable events”, or “a year of miracles”.

One of these notable events was “the Battle of Lowestoft”, the 13^th of June of 1665, fought by England and Holland. In this battle, the English soundly defeated the Dutch. A year later, “The Four Day´s Battle” took place, from the first of June until the fourth of June of 1666. The final victory was a month later, on “St. James Day Battle”, the 25^th of July. These three battles are what Dryden talks about in the first part of his poem.

The Four Day´s Battle

                Another very important event, that marked England at that time, was the Great Fire of London that lasted five days. It started the 2^nd of September, and went until the 7^th of September of 1666.  So after these three battles that cost a lot of economic trouble among other things, the Great Fire burnt a lot of important manuscripts that belonged to the Middle Ages, a lot of pieces of art, and also a lot of important buildings that were representative for the city. However, the Fire could have been much worse; it could have burnt the whole city. But fortunately, it was stopped. This was one more reason for the king, Charles II to rearrange the streets, and the city in general, whom he had said, before the fire, that he wanted to do so.

Therefore, we can infer that the historical aspects had such a great impact in the society of the time, that they were reflected in literature, and this is a great example of it. 

Great Fire of London (1666)