* 1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

Historically, this proceeded from the labours of Jean de Launoy ( 1603 – 1678 ), " le dénicheur des saints ", and Louis Sébastien le Nain de Tillemont, who had shown the falsity of numerous lives of the saints ; while theologically it was produced by the Port Royal school, which led men to dwell more on communion with God as contrasted with the invocation of the saints.

* Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna Viceroy of Aragon, 1678 – 1681, in Spain.

* 1678 – Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat ( d. 1757 )

* 1678 – William Croft, English composer ( d. 1727 )

* 1678 – Daniel Neal, English historian ( d. 1743 )

* 1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China ( d. 1735 )

Louis XIV of France conquered parts of Alsace and Lorraine ( 1678 – 1681 ), and had invaded and devastated the Electorate of the Palatinate ( 1688 – 1697 ) in the War of Palatinian Succession.

Peace was fragile, and war broke out again between France and the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War ( 1672 – 1678 ).

* 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect ( b. 1678 )

* 1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.

* 1678 – Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary ( b. 1593 )

* 1678 – Nicola Francesco Haym, Italian composer and musician ( d. 1729 )

* 1621 – Andrew Marvell, English poet ( d. 1678 )

Other notable violinists included Antonio Vivaldi ( 1678 – 1741 ) and Giuseppe Tartini ( 1692 – 1770 ), who, in their compositions, reflected the increasing technical and musical demands on the violinist.

* 1678 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier ( d. 1743 )

After consultation with both canon lawyers and theologians in France and Germany, Dominique Marie Varlet ( 1678 – 1742 ), a Roman Catholic Bishop of the French Oratorian Society of Foreign Missions, ordained Bishop Steenoven.

Political parties first appeared during the Exclusion Crisis of 1678 – 1681.

An uprising by soldiers and planters in 1684 during the governorship of John Blackmore ( 1678 – 1689 ) led to the death of three mutineers in an attack on Fort James and the later execution of four others.

* 1678 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English philosopher and politician ( d. 1751 )

* 1642 – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian violinist and composer ( d. 1678 )

* 1601 – Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish painter ( d. 1678 )

* April 17 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor ( b. 1678 )

Joseph I ( 26 July 1678 – 17 April 1711 ), Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of the Romans was the elder son of Emperor Leopold I and his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg.

Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, the son of Joseph Trumbull ( 1678 – 1755 ) and his wife née Hannah Higley.

French missionaries used the area for many years, including Jean de Brébeuf and Joseph Chaumonot in 1641, Louis Hennepin in 1678, and Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle in 1680.

After a period of comparative inactivity Sir Joseph represented England at the Congress of Nijmegen, and in 1678 he signed the first treaty for the partition of the Spanish Monarchy.

* Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor ( 1678 – 1711 )

The French settlements in the Pays d ' en Haut south of the Great Lakes were Fort Niagara ( 1678 ), Fort Crevecoeur ( 1680 ), Fort Saint Antoine ( 1686 ), Fort St. Joseph ( 1691 ), Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit ( 1701 ), Fort Michilimackinac ( 1715 ), Fort Miami ( 1715 ), Fort La Baye ( 1717 ), and Fort Beauharnois ( 1727 ).

Abraham Darby I ( 1678 – 1717 ) was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an Abraham Darby family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution.

* March 8 – Abraham Darby I, first of that name of three generations of an English Quaker family that was key to the development of the Industrial Revolution ( b. 1678 )

* Abraham Darby I ( 1678 – 1717 ) the first of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution.

In the years 1678 and 1715, Rügen was briefly wrested from the Swedes by the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William and by the King in Prussia, Frederick William I.

Great Sleigh Drive ( 1678 ): Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg | Frederick William pursues Swedish troops across the frozen Curonian Spit | Curonian Lagoon ; fresco by Wilhelm Simmler, ca.

* March 8-Abraham Darby I, English ironmaster ( born 1678 )

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, raised the grate of the fireplace, improving the airflow and venting system.

* English Lawyer ( Theatre Royal, 1678 ), an adaptation of George Ruggle's Latin play of Ignoramus, presented before James I at Cambridge in March 1615 ;

Abraham Darby I ( 14 April 1678 – 8 March 1717 ) was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution.

These wars had started shortly after the death of António I and had resulted in the abandonment of the ancient capital of São Salvador ( present day Mbanza Kongo ) in 1678 and the division of the country by rival pretenders to the throne.

; Holy Trinity Church: built in the years 1619 – 1627 in the baroque style, burned in a fire and was rebuilt in the years 1678 – 1691

The French priest Richard Simon brought these critical perspectives to the Catholic tradition in 1678, observing " the most part of the Holy Scriptures that are come to us, are but Abridgments and as Summaries of ancient Acts which were kept in the Registries of the Hebrews ," in what was probably the first work of biblical textual criticism in the modern sense.

The Habsburg connection was cemented by his marriage ( 1678 ) to Eleonora Maria Josefa, Archduchess of Austria ( 1653 – 1697 ), daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleonore Gonzaga.