1678

Events

• August 10 - Treaty of Nijmegen ends the Dutch War.
• September 6 - Titus Oates begins to present allegations of the "Popish Plot", a Catholic conspiracy to assassinate king Charles II of England
• October 17 - British politician Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Greenberry Hill , London
• About 1200 Irish families sail from Barbados to Virginia and the Carolinas
• First chrysantemums in Europe
• John Bunyan publishes his novel, The Pilgrim's Progress.

Births

• March 4 - Antonio Vivaldi, Italian music composer (died 1741)
• May 16 - Andreas Silbermann , organ builder (died 1734)
• July 26 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1711)

Deaths

• August 16 - Andrew Marvell, English metaphysical poet and satirist (born 1621)