5.10: The Short Life and Strange Death of Christopher Marlowe

Episode 97:
Christopher Marlowe was one of the giants of Elizabethan theatre, but he died young in mysterious circumstances. In this episode I try to unpick the mystery of why he died. Was it just an argument about the cost of a meal, or the result of some far more sinister goings-on in the world of Elizabethan espionage and court rivalry?
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[@veronicafullford1697]

Fascinating insight into Marlowe’s life and death and the espionage background that he may have been involved with - an amazing tapestry with lots of interconnecting threads.

[@mishalee8083]

This was really interesting, thank you! I learned some new facts, and I liked your arguments for the hypothesis that Marlowe was killed for potential political motivations due to his association with Ralegh, Dee and Harriot. - Also, Shakespeare still being affected by Marlowe's death 6 years later, and being angry enough to say something about it in his plays - the only direct, contemporary reference he makes, I believe - is amazing!

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

Thanks - I’m glad you enjoyed the episode, it’s one of my personal favourites. Such an intriguing story.

[@stconstable]

Wonderful!!

[@Lucyynorth]

Incredible - thank you!

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

You're very welcome!

[@carolcollins2492]

That flickering line in your graphic is terrible.

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

Hi Carol, you will be pleased to know that I have changed the method of loading the audio to TH-cam so from December 23 onwards there is no longer an audio line on the image.

[@Approx900FeetApprox]

I always wondered. Why was Marlowe buried in an unmarked grave? Why wouldn’t they send the body back to Canterbury or at least some friends pull money together to buy one?

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

I think there are (at least) two possibilities. Burial was performed quickly, especially in Summer and I suspect that taking a body to a special burial place was not common. Without a friend or relative on site the express any wishes the body would have been buried locally. The other possibility is that the authorities were only too happy to dispose of the body as quickly as possible and start the process of makig an awkward problem go away. W e'll never know for sure.....

[@arealphoney]

I really enjoyed this. Particularly the description of what Marlowe's education would have been, at that date.
You imply that Marlowe's death involved a conspiracy. I agree entirely, but being one of ghe many who see a continuity between the end of Marlowe and the surprising advent of Shakespeare, i see the conspiracy as a design to get the Queen's playwrigjt safely out of the way .....
I think that on the fateful night in Deptford, Kit Marlowe sailed down the Thames estuary on the tide.

[@philiprowe10]

I hope I kept out of the realms of pure speculation but despite some evidence the means, manner and reasons for Marlowe's death will remain, I fear, something of a mystery. I hope across other episodes I showed my belief that Marlowe, Kidd and the other early public house and university playwrights did map out a path that allowed Shakespeare to become the genius that he undoubtedly was.

[@arealphoney]

@@philiprowe10 , i think you avoided the speculation very well.
But i dont agree that Marlowe and the others set the stage for the man from Stratford. There were few people who had the background and experiences to write as Shakespeare, playwright and Poet, wrote.
One of those who di was Marlowe, and another was the Earl of Oxford.
Marlowe had the proven literary ability.
Oxford wrote some pretty poems.

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

Definitely more on that subject to come in season 6!

[@vetstadiumastroturf5756]

No one knows what The Globe actually looked like.
The only image we have was done by someone who based his drawing on a description made by a German tourist.

[@thehistoryofeuropeantheatr3204]

You will find episodes 103 & 104 interesting where I dig into the histories of the London playhouses and what we do and don’t know about them.

[@rezzer7918]

I doubt it

[@fabiengerard8142]

Well, do ‘remember’….the additional line introducing that 1948 feature film by Laurence Olivier, after some mysterious Bard’s HAMLET: ‘’This is the tragedy of a man who COULD NOT MAKE UP HIS MIND’’. 🤔
Ambiguity and doubt are the very keys to true art.

[@SimonMilesresearch]

I can help here. Marlow the man did not write a word of the plays attributed to him. The plays were written by Francis Bacon and his brother Anthony. Marlowe's only service, as he plainly stated, was in bearing name. He was the mask. You're welcome.

[@jziffi]

Source: trust me bro

[@GraveyardShift-tl6ri]

@@jziffi this is the second time today i've seen this type of reply to a farfetched comment 🤣 agreed, trust me bro

[@Jeremyracle-qb9mo]

@@GraveyardShift-tl6ri Actually, Queen Elizabeth 1 wrote them. Source : A man down ye tavern....

[@goodlookinouthomie1757]

Strange... I thought either Marlowe or Bacon were too busy being Shakespeare to write anything in their own names.

[@DrWrapperband]

@@goodlookinouthomie1757 I'm sure Anthony could find time between "pages".