* 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 – 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 )

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

* 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 )

Some of their works are considered precursors of archaeoastronomy ; antiquarians interpreted the astronomical orientation of the ruins that dotted the English countryside as William Stukeley did of Stonehenge in 1740, while John Aubrey in 1678 and Henry Chauncy in 1700 sought similar astronomical principles underlying the orientation of churches.

** William Coddington, first governor of Rhode Island ( d. 1678 )

* August 14 – William Croft, English composer ( b. 1678 )

An attempt by William to convince his uncle to enter the war against Louis failed in April ; Charles would till the end of that war in 1678 try to negotiate between the two parties, at times pretending to really consider a conflict with France, when such pretence was beneficial to him.

* 1678 William Newton

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.

The current manor was originally built in 1678 by Sir William Pritchard on land bought from the Napier family on the site of an older medieval manor.

* Lieutenant General William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, 1678 – 1689

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.

By 1678, Frederick William had cleared Swedish Pomerania and occupied most of it, with the exception of Rügen which was held by Denmark – Norway.

He also wrote much against tithes from 1678 onwards, and attacked William Rogers, who in 1682 ignored the authority of Penn and Fox, and denied their right to control the Quaker community.

* William Stanley ( MP for Southampton ) ( 1610 – 1678 ), English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660

His Life, written by himself up to 1678, with his diary and correspondence, and an index to his manuscript collections, was edited by William Hamper, and published in 1827.

On 24 November 1678, Oates claimed the Queen was working with the King's physician to poison the King, and Oates enlisted the aid of " Captain " William Bedloe, who was ready to say anything for money.

After a brief period employed as private chaplain to the wife of Sir William Scott of Harden in 1675, Cameron was dismissed from service for refusing to attend the parish church on the Sabbath .. With Welwood ’ s encouragement Cameron became increasingly religiously active and was eventually licensed as a field preacher in 1678.

* 1678 / 79 William Hardy Robert Hewitt

** Thomas Sherlock, 1678 – 1761 ( son of William ), English bishop

The earl was intimate with William, prince of Orange, and in 1677 he joined the allied army in the Netherlands, commanding the British section and winning great fame at the siege of Mons in 1678.

* William Paget, 5th Baron Paget ( 1609 – 1678 ), English peer

* William Paget, 5th Baron Paget ( 1609 – 1678 )

Playford's printers were: Thomas Harper, 1648 – 1652 ; William Godbid, 1658 – 1678 ; Ann Godbid and her partner, John Playford the younger, 1679 – 1683 ; John Playford alone, 1684-1685.

* Sir William Forester ( 1655 – 1718 ), his son, inherited Dothill from his half-brother, Richard Steventon ( died 1659 ), in about 1675, and beceme a Member of Parliament in 1678.