Christopher Marlowe

c. 1564 – 30 May 1593

Christopher Marlowe was an English playwright and poet of the Elizabethan era, the foremost tragedian before Shakespeare and a pioneer of blank verse drama. His plays include Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and Doctor Faustus. Long rumored to have worked as a government agent, he was killed in a dispute at Deptford in 1593 at the age of twenty-nine.

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Life events

Born in Canterbury
c. 1564

Marlowe, son of a shoemaker, was baptised in Canterbury on 26 February 1564; his exact birth date shortly before is unrecorded.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Attended The King's School, Canterbury
c. 1578

Marlowe entered The King's School in Canterbury as a scholar around 1578.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
December 1580 – 1587

Marlowe went up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on a Parker scholarship in December 1580, taking his BA in 1584.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Awarded MA after Privy Council intervention
1587

In 1587 Cambridge granted Marlowe's MA only after the Privy Council intervened, citing unspecified services to the queen, a fact often linked to intelligence work.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Tamburlaine the Great staged in London
1587

Marlowe's two-part Tamburlaine, first performed around 1587, brought blank verse to the popular stage and made his reputation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Imprisoned briefly after a fatal street fight
September 1589

In September 1589 Marlowe was jailed in Newgate after a swordfight in which his companion Thomas Watson killed William Bradley; Marlowe was released and cleared.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Arrested at Flushing on a coining charge
January 1592

In January 1592 Marlowe was arrested in the Dutch town of Flushing for involvement in counterfeiting and deported to England, where no charges were pressed.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Wrote Doctor Faustus
c. 1592

Marlowe's tragedy Doctor Faustus, his most celebrated play, was written around 1592, though its exact date of composition is debated.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Summoned before the Privy Council
20 May 1593

On 20 May 1593 Marlowe answered a Privy Council warrant, issued amid accusations of heresy against him, and was ordered to report daily.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Killed at Deptford
30 May 1593

Marlowe was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer in a house in Deptford on 30 May 1593, officially in a quarrel over the bill; the circumstances remain much debated.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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