Defoe Imprisoned for Libel

Date: May 21, 1703 • Location: London, United Kingdom

Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel.

Daniel Defoe was an English writer, journalist, merchant and spy. He is famous for his novels Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722), Colonel Jack (1722), and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724). He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson.