1700 in literature

Events

• February 1 – Richard Bentley becomes Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
• Early March - William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World is first performed at the New Theatre, Lincoln's Inn Fields in London.
• May 5 – Within days of John Dryden's death on May 1, his last written work, The Secular Masque, is performed as part of Vanbrugh's version of The Pilgrim.

  New books

Fiction

• Aphra Behn – Histories, Novels, and Translations
• Tom Brown – Amusements Serious and Comical
• Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras – Mémoires de Monsieur d'Artagnan
• Peter Anthony Motteux, editor – The History of the Renown'd Don-Quixote de la Mancha, translated by several hands, Volume 1

  Drama

• Anonymous – Caledonia, or the Pedlar Turned Merchant
• Abel Boyer – Achilles; or, Iphigenia in Aulis: a tragedy
• William Burnaby – The Reformed Wife
• Susannah Centlivre – The Perjur'd Husband; or, The Adventures of Venice: A tragedy
• Colley Cibber – The Tragical History of King Richard III
• William Congreve – The Way of the World, a comedy performed in March
• John Dennis – Iphigenia: A tragedy, performed in December 1699
• George Farquhar – The Constant Couple
• Charles Gildon – Measure for Measure
• Charles Hopkins – Friendship Improv'd; or, The Female Warriour: A tragedy, performed November 7, 1699
• Francis Manning – The Generous Choice
• John Oldmixon – The Grove, or Love's Paradise published
• William Philips – St. Stephen's Green
• Mary Pix – The Beau Defeated
• Nicholas Rowe – The Ambitious Stepmother
• Thomas Southerne – The Fate of Capua: A tragedy, performed about April
• John Vanbrugh – The Pilgrim: A comedy, anonymous; performed in April

  Poetry

• Richard Blackmore – A Satyr Against Wit
• Thomas Brown – A Description of Mr. Dryden's Funeral, verse
• Samuel Cobb – Poetae Britannici
• Daniel Defoe – The Pacificator
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz – Fama y obras póstumas del Fénix de México
• William King – The Transactioneer With Some of his Philosophical Fancies
• John Pomfret – Reason
• John Tutchin – The Foreigners, published anonymously )
• Ned Ward – The Reformer

  Non-fiction

• Mary Astell – Some Reflections upon Marriage
• James Brome – Travels over England, Scotland, and Wales
• Jeremy Collier – A Second Defence of the Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage &c
• Eugenia – The Female Advocate: Or, a plea for the just liberty of the tender sex, and particularly of married women...
• Francis Moore – Vox Stellarum: An almanac for 1701
• Sir William Temple – Letters Written by Sir W. Temple, and Other Ministers of State, Both at Home and Abroad
• Pavao Ritter Vitezović – Croatia Rediviva
• Ned Ward – A Step to the Bath: With a character of the place, published anonymously

  Births

• February 2 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German philosopher
• May 25 – Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German theologian
• September 11 – James Thomson, Scottish poet
• November 25 – Kata Bethlen, Hungarian memoirist and correspondent

  Deaths

• January 7 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian antiquary
• March 14 – Henry Killigrew, English clergyman, poet and playwright
• May 12
• *Joseph Athias, Spanish-born publisher of Hebrew Bible
• *John Dryden English poet
• July – Thomas Creech, English translator
• August 6 – Johann Beer, Austrian author, court official and composer
• August 8 – Joseph Moxon, English mathematician and lexicographer
• August 22 – Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Mexican priest, poet, geographer, and historian
• Unknown date – Charles Hopkins, Anglo-Irish poet and dramatist