Historical Characters Referenced in Defoe
Besides the principal (mostly fictional) characters, Defoe is littered with references to a vast number of notable historical figures. Some feature prominently as characters in their own right, others warrant only a passing mention. They include the following:
- 1666
- Charles II, Isaac Newton, John Ketch, Richard Busby, Samuel Pepys, Leonardo Da Vinci, Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, La Voisin, John Milton, Francis Bacon, John Dee, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Nicolas Flamel, Robert Boyle, Oliver Cromwell, Charles I, Christiaan Huygens, Robert Lockier, Hernán Cortés.
- Brethren of the Night
- Matthew Hopkins, William Thompson, Ben Caunt, Nero, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Aphra Behn, John Evelyn, John Gadbury, Judge Jeffreys, Thomas Rainsborough, Bevil Skelton, Thomas Blood, Thomas Dangerfield, William Bedloe, John Bunyan.
- Queen of the Zombies
- Ferdinand Verbiest, Samuel Pepys, Christopher Marlowe, Johann Faust.
- A Murder of Angels
- Nell Gwyn, Richard Brandon, Dom Perignon, Talbot Edwards.
- The Damned
- Forthcoming
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Famous quotes containing the words historical, characters and/or defoe:
“After so many historical illustrations of the evil effects of abandoning the policy of protection for that of a revenue tariff, we are again confronted by the suggestion that the principle of protection shall be eliminated from our tariff legislation. Have we not had enough of such experiments?”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“We are like travellers using the cinders of a volcano to roast their eggs. Whilst we see that it always stands ready to clothe what we would say, we cannot avoid the question whether the characters are not significant of themselves.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We loved the doctrine for the teacher’s sake.”
—Daniel Defoe (1660–1731)