Christopher Marlowe

Not much is known about Christopher Marlowe, including his exact date of birth, but he was baptized as an infant on February 26, 1564. Marlowe was born the eldest son to John and Catherine Marlowe in the city of Canterbury in Kent, England. Marlowe’s father was a shoemaker, and young Christopher—as known as “Kit’—attended the King’s School in Canterbury, England’s oldest public school. He later attended Corpus Christi College at the University of Cambridge on a scholarship and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584. Marlowe continued at Cambridge and began studying for a Master of Arts degree, and he completed his graduate studies in 1587; however, Marlowe’s degree was initially withheld due to his excessive absenteeism. He was eventually awarded his degree after Queen Elizabeth I insisted that Marlowe’s absences were on behalf of his “good service” to England. What kind of “service” Marlowe provided is not known, and this uncertainty has fueled longstanding suspicions that Marlowe may have been a secret spy working on behalf of England and the Queen. It is thought that Marlowe wrote his first play, Dido, Queen of Carthage, during his time at Cambridge. The play was first performed the same year Marlowe graduated, but it was not published until after his death in 1594. Marlowe’s most famous play, Tamburlaine the Great, was also first performed in 1587, and it was his first play to be staged in London. Marlowe then wrote Tamburlaine the Great, Part II, and both plays were wildly popular and published in 1590. The Jew of Malta was likely written around 1589, but the play was not performed until 1592, and it wasn’t published until 1594. Marlowe’s next play, Edward the Second, was first performed in July of 1593, just weeks after Marlowe’s murder at the age of 29. He is also remembered for Doctor Faustus, although it is unknown when the play was written or first performed. In the early 1590s, Marlowe shared a room with Thomas Kyd, a fellow English playwright and author of The Spanish Tragedy, and both men were arrested in May of 1593 after heretical literature was found in their room. Kyd confessed under torture that the offensive writing belonged to Marlowe, but Marlowe was later released without punishment. Since the accepted penalty for heresy was death, Marlowe’s apparent pardon further fueled rumors that he was secretly a government spy. Marlowe was killed just days later, on May 30, 1593, when he was allegedly stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer, a wealthy businessman with ties to the English government and Queen Elizabeth I. The circumstances and events surrounding Marlowe’s death are largely unknown, and Frizer was ultimately pardoned on the grounds of self-defense. Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave near St. Nicolas Church in London, but a memorial window sits in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as a tribute to Marlowe and his contribution to literature and the stage.