February 26 - Christopher Marlowe - a rather colourful character!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.พ. 2019
- 📅 On this momentous day in Tudor history, 26th February 1564, a literary legend was baptised-Christopher Marlowe. Dive into the captivating life of the poet, translator, and playwright who left an indelible mark on Elizabethan literature.
👶 Born into a shoemaker's family, Marlowe's baptism marked the beginning of a life that would unfold with brilliance and controversy. Discover the secrets of his education at King’s School, Canterbury, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Unearth the plays and poems that have etched his name in the annals of English literature.
🎭 Explore Marlowe's theatrical legacy, from "Tamburlaine" to "Dr Faustus," "The Jew of Malta" to "Edward II." Delve into the intriguing connections between Marlowe and the renowned actor Edward Alleyn, igniting speculation about roles crafted specifically for him.
🕵️♂️ Peel back the layers of Marlowe's mysterious life, rife with espionage allegations and accusations of heresy and atheism. Did he serve as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham? Was his death a result of a tavern brawl or a complex conspiracy?
🤔 Join me as I explore the multiple theories surrounding Marlowe's untimely demise, from personal vendettas to political intrigues. Uncover the controversies that surround his alleged statements on religion, atheism, and his rumoured involvement in fights and skirmishes.
📜 As we commemorate the day of Marlowe's baptism, let's unravel the enigma that shrouds his legacy. Subscribe, hit the notification bell, and embark on a journey into the life, works, and mysteries of Christopher Marlowe. 📖✒️ #ChristopherMarlowe #ElizabethanLiterature #Playwright #TudorHistory #LiteraryMysteries
See • Dr. Faustus--Elizabeth... for the Doctor Faustus scene with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
You can also see a performance of Doctor Faustus at Shakespeare’s Globe at • Video
The Kit Marlowe portrayed in the BBC comedy 'Upstart Crow' is certainly a colourful character 🤭
YES!!! I love the hell out of that show- how could you not?- & I think the character of Kit, & the idea of Shakespeare writing KIT'S plays, are bloody hilarious!
I don't know why, but the cat jumping up at the beginning of the video shook me for a second. Great information as always!
Thank you for your study of Christopher Marlowe. A fascinating story, but a sad one. By all accounts, he was a brilliant man, was very good looking, and had many talents. Like so many shining stars, many are wiped out too early, sometimes by their own foolish behavior.
Tudor history is a very long exciting soap opera. No wonder so many movies and shows exist. Thanks again, Claire!
I play your videos everyday and now my boyfriend listens too! (even though he pretends he doesn’t) He says “oh it’s time for your Tudor history of the day” when he hears your voice! LOL ❤️
Thanks for the video of Christopher Marlowe! My brother, 10 years my senior, completed his masters thesis on this man of literature. I never fully appreciated him or why my brother would select him as the subject of his thesis and now I know why. Seems like he was kind of an Oscar Wilde or his day yes?
I forwarded the link to the video to my brother. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it, him being a “marveloewsa”kind of guy 🤣.
PS. That tour of the executed Queens sounds really interesting. you’re doing that in July, next month? Do you do many historical tours? I would love to see the palace where Anne Boleyn grew up. I did visit Henry’s palace up the Thames River. It was said that after he executed Anne, he removed every symbol of her in the palace (which were many). There were a lot of decorative engravings in the walls with her her abbreviations, symbols, etc. and he took great effort to getting rid of them all. Seems rather sick.
There is also some convincing evidence that Marlowe may have served as tutor to Lady Arbella Stuart. A letter from her guardian, the Countess of Shrewsbury, to Lord Burghley, tells of her dismissing one "Morley" from her service after she overheard him asking Arbella to grant him a pension if she ever became Queen. We know that Marlowe himself spelled his name "Marley," and he seems to be the only university graduate with a similar name who could have filled the position. If you want to read a good book on Marlovian theory, I would recommend "Marlowe's Ghost" by Daryl Pinksen. There is also a very good documentary called "Much Ado About Something" (available on TH-cam), and another by Dr. Ros Barber, "Did Marlowe Die In Deptford?" which makes a very convincing case that he was not killed on May 30, 1593. The editors of the Oxford Shakespeare have recently recognized Marlowe as co-author of several of Shakespeare's plays.
that's really fascinating, thanks for all the info daver8521
LOL, I'm in the US so it always catches me by surprise when the next day's episode posts around dinner time here. Maybe I'm weird, but I always save watching it until tomorrow. Thank you for this series! I love coming home and watching it every day.
I do the same. I save the treat for the next day.
I remember Christopher Marlowe my high school English Class here in the US. We had a year or 2 of English Lit. Of course this was the 70’s so his personal life wasn’t talked about! I do need to revisit Faust. Thank you Claire!
🤣🤣 OMG I had to rewind the beginning... at first all I saw was a flash of black and white. I had no idea what it was, so I had to run that part back. What an adorable kitty!
Me too! 😍🐱
Love the trivia bits! Great listening as always! Very hooked on your daily 'On this day'. Greetings from Sydney Australia darling 💙🇦🇺
It was very convenient for many people that Christopher Marlowe was killed . An outspoken double agent is an accident waiting to happen. It makes me think of earlier times 'Who will rid me of this turbulent priest' Thank you Claire for carefully presenting the facts. Thank you Christopher Marlowe for your brilliant writings May you Rest In Peace.
I think he was on the way to getting executed, but generally malefactors were allowed a dying speech and someone like Marlowe might have been very eloquent indeed. As a possible spy, he might also have revealed government secrets as a last "f@@k you" before being turned off the gallows. For me, this might be why he was killed.
I don't see Marlowe as especially violent in the context of the time - men carried swords and daggers, casual violence was quite common and the opening scene in Romeo and Juliet where servants of the feuding families get into a fight with one another just for the fun of it is the part of the play that has the most convincing slice of Elizabethan life in it, for me at any rate.
Wow this was like a thriller murder mystery very colourful man .I didn't know they had scholarships in those days thank you Claire xx
Great video! As a Shakespearean drama teacher, I find the the possibility of Shakespeare’s work not his own quite fascinating. I’m on the fence.
Thank you for another great video. I especially enjoyed the trivia. As far as Marlowe being the author of Shakespeare’s works...interesting idea but I would have to see some hard evidence first to believe it.
When I worked at a university, one of my colleagues did an interesting analysis of Shakespeare’s language in his works and compared it to several other literary writers of the period to no avail.
I could listen to Richard Burton reading the Telephone book.What a voice! Talk about colourful characters. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton>
Marlowe sounds like the people I knew in the punk rock scene in San Francisco. Brilliant, talented but destructive behavior.
I knew plenty of those sorts of people in the LA punk rock scene as well violet.
I personally really enjoy the theory that Marlow faked his death in order to avoid being tried. The timing of his death was just too perfect and the more you look into his death, the weirder it seems to get. (Now, if he just so happened to escape to Venice and publish his work under a different name....well, that's another story.) I'd totally recommend going down that rabbit hole if you have some spare time.
PS. I have been reading your blogs for a few years now and was so excited to discover your youtube channel. I have been binge watching all week. Amazing job!
I too like the idea that he might have popped up somewhere and continued writing and carousing. He doesn't seem the type to keep a low profile, so perhaps that wouldn't work. I wonder if any literary scholar come upon a body of work done in the right time frame, and proposed that the author was the artist previously known as Kit Marlowe?
Have you read Calvin Hoffman's theory that he wrote Shakespeare's plays after faking his death? There's a documentary and an out of print book on the subject. Very interesting theory.
Love listening to all your videos and eagerly wait till midnight to hear what you will talk about that day
It is usually seem that intellectual people manage to get involved with the politics of the day. And as seen that in those days ends in tragedy
I once read Marlowe was known as kind Kit Marlowe. Absolutely fascinating and extraordinary Eliabethan character. Bet he was good looking too
The "kind Kit Marlowe" quote (which comes from John Marston) is fascinating to me because so often Marlowe is seen purely as a reckless, violent troublemaker. And there's certainly plenty of evidence for that side of him. But it's striking that with all that, the word Marston chose to describe him was "kind". He seems to have been a complex man, who created very polarizing opinions in people. Other friends also reminisced warmly about him, even while his enemies condemned him in the strongest possible terms.
Just happened upon your channel about a week ago. I absolutely love it! Been watching every day since. Thank you for sharing your research and making such interesting videos:)
So delighted to hear you reference "Dr. FAUSTUS" the film which I saw many years ago in Jr. High school. I was an addict for Burton & for Liz & still watch anything that features Burton.
🇺🇸It seems so strange to me in this day & age that being an atheist could have cost you your life! I’d been in a lot of trouble back then. 😬I’d also heard about the shakespeare/Marlowe connection. Wonder if that will ever be proven one way or another. Thanks for another great post. My two favorite English TH-camrs are you and John cedars! 🇬🇧
In this day and age in some countries atheism is a capital offence.
Anthony Burgess wrote "A Dead Man In Deptford" about Marlowe. A brilliant evocation of the Elizabethan era, and I think it was his last work.
Steve Kaczynski Known in certain circles as ‘the Burgess book’. You may be right there, I think he had a brain tumour wasn’t it? And wanted the book to come out in 1993 as a centenary. In the back of my copy it goes on about how he had always wanted to write that book and that it was based on the dissertation he’d written for his degree, the manuscript for which was impounded by the Nazis or something. (I should stop babbling and reach over and pick up the book to check...but I’m not going to.)
@@tracik1277 He was supposedly diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour about four decades before he actually died, and this made him turn to writing. If the story is true it was a misdiagnosis. One of my favourite writers - a polyglot with a fine sense of language though some of his work is quite bleak.
Re Shakespeare I count myself rather as a skeptic---the fact that he left no manuscripts or even books in his estate and that at least one of his daughters was illiterate makes me suspicious that he wrote the plays, from what I understand, plays in that time period tended to be collaborative efforts, so Shakespeare, who we do know worked in Theater companies, might have been involved in formulating and staging the plays but did he write them alone? It seems unlikely to me based on the scant evidence that exists, did Marlowe write them? again, who knows although he actually did leave a provable body of his own work, in the end, Marlowe was a typical "bad boy" drinking and carousing and getting into fights, he reminds me of Caravaggio, the painter who lived a generation or so before him, who also was always in trouble---alcohol, youth and being "different" in a culture that expects a person to be in lock step with accepted norms usually is a dangerous combination.
thought the same re Caravaggio. another genius with a mysterious end
The same can be said for Shakespeare. His wife was illiterate.
To my knowledge only one possible manuscript of a Marlowe play exists (and it was discovered by a certain Collier, who is known to have forged manuscripts). It is a chunk of The Massacre At Paris, in which an assassin is speaking a monologue before attacking his target. It is considerably longer than the published scene in the play and suggests, if genuine, that the play was longer and what was published was a corrupt version. Manuscripts of Elizabethan plays rarely survive. The fact that written records of Marlowe tend to have a government or church connection is significant - they were more likely to survive and were often deliberately archived. Play manuscripts were pretty much seen as waste paper and their survival is pretty fortuitous. Plays were not seen as high literature and paper was expensive.
Steve Kaczynski Hello again, you seem to know your stuff, that’s nice.
I am truly enjoying ‘ This Day in Tudor History ‘ glimpses of the Tudor cat, is icing on the cake
My name is Mike, and I'm a Marlovian. I just finished reading The Marlowe Papers, an interesting novel in blank verse by Ros Barber, and based on Marlovian scholarship. It argues that Kit's murder was a coverup, with John Penry's body buried instead (look near the end of these comments for Steve Kaczynski
's comments, and thereabouts the fact that those present when he died were all linked to Her Majesty's spy service in one way or another. Marlowe escaped and was then sent to Europe under an alias, where he still worked as a spy for England, and wrote Shakespeare's plays as he had a lot of time on his hands. Plus he visited, apparently,in this spy work many of the cities used as settings for Shakespeare's plays, mentioning key facts of Verona, Elsinore Castle Denmark, Padua, Venice etc. This book is worth a read, and has footnotes on the scholarly studies it was based upon.
I like Marlowe. Thank for talking about him.
...7 it was totally staged (he was a playwright after all) because he was a double agent and his identity was blown..( that is my little theory)
I believe this story, apparently he was whisked off to Italy. Think about "Romeo and Juliet", "The merchant of Venice" etc, I wonder who really wrote them?
Another complex character who had an interesting and intriguing life.
I have been interested in the possibility of Marlowe being the author of the works attributed to "Shakespeare" since the early seventies when I read Then murder of the Man Who Was Shakespeare by Hoffman. He posits that the "murder" was a disappearance. A major argument in favor of this theory is that there is no documentary evidence of William Shacksper (actual name), the man from Stratford, being a writer or even being able to write. Marlowe had an established body of work that ended two weeks before Shakespeare's work appeared fully formed. Regarding the "murder," it is important to know that everyone at the scene had known links to the secret service, including the "innkeeper" Eleanor Bull who was related to Sir William Ceccil. The house is now thought of a a secret service safe house. It would appear that whatever happened was very much an inside job.
CLaire was hoping you would go 'fringe'! I was a Baconite leaning toward the 'Francis heading up a group of contributing writers that included de Vere and Marlowe' theory meeting at that strange house on the corner he owned that is still there. But having listened to so many presentations by the Shakespeare Authorship question group especially Alexander Waugh's brilliant series on TH-cam, who presents overwhelming evidence from contemporary sources, I'm pretty convinced de Vere was 'the author'. Highly recommend the movie Anonymous with opening by Sir Derek Jacobi. Regarding Kit there was so much espionage and secrecy going on in London I'm grateful to everyone who drills down these mysteries and I believe most agree that knowing he was about to be arrested they helped him fake his death. I Recently discovered Sir Thomas Hayes, the mayor of London during the cross over between Liz and James, was one of my grandfathers so I am asking him to spill the beans in my dreams as that is one of the things my 'dreams are made of'. Appreciate you!
I'm rather biased as I come from Stratford-upon-Avon and so Shakespeare is very important to me, but in my own research I've found no reason to doubt that the sonnets and plays were written by anybody but Shakespeare. I love the references to glove making and the work of whittawers, Shakespeare having grown up with a father in that trade. I've read so much on the subject but it hasn't changed my mind.
Happy Monday Claire, hope it’s a tudortastic one🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Wow. Dead at 29. He got a lot of writing done in his brief life. Great subject thanks, Jan in SoCal
I always learn something. Most of that information on Marlowe I was aware of but had not heard he was possibly a spy. When it comes to his death going off of what I've read about him I just chalked it up to him being a jerk and getting in a fight that unfortunately he lost. I never read more into it than that.
Even if Kit Marlowe did write the some of the Shakespeare play there is no evidence to prove that.
Thanks Claire for such an interesting overview of Marlowe.
I have Charles Nicholls’ book on Marlowe, The Reckoning- very interesting.
Also, couldn’t help thinking of the tv series ‘Upstart Crowe’ which is a comedy about Shakespeare. It’s very spoofy and funny, but also good. And one of the characters is Kit Marlowe. Also, Emma Thompson plays Elizabeth in one of the Christmas specials. She did the best Elizabeth portrayal I’ve seen since Glenda Jackson. (The series is available for viewing in the US through Britbox.)
A very sad story. But whatever you choose to believe, the world lost a literary genius that day.
Would it not have been unusual for a shoemaker to send his child to school instead of having him learn the trade?
Not unusual for him to receive a basic education. Without the scholarship he would likely have ended up in trade after his basic schooling.
The Tudor times were actually pretty good for a smart lad to make good, Wolsey and Cromwell were also low born and reached the heights of wealth and influence, I find it extremely interesting that intelligence could win a boy a place in Oxford or another prestigious University then, and that there were scholarships available for such boys.
Not if the boy showed promise. He was one of nine children so plenty of others to learn the trade. Families would have looked for opportunities to better themselves and Marlowe was offered a scholarship to go on to university. I can't see any family turning down that opportunity.
@@anneboleynfiles ah yes of course about the scholarship. I was thinking about primary school even with 9 children most off them had a good chance of not surviving and would only get a very basic education of math and writing to do business. But yes, showing great promise early in school he was lucky to continue with a scholarship. To bad genius has nothing to do with common sense. Might not have met such a sticky end.
Just started reading the first book , the Anne Boleyn collection. While, I swallowed most of Philippa Gregory’s books as truth at the time , I realize it was just fiction and should be accepted as such. I enjoy historical fiction, Herman Wouks world war novels had fictional characters interacting with real characters and real events. I’m enjoying your book thus far , I bought 2 others , so I’m happy to be enlightened
Very interesting. I admit don't know alot about Marlowe but it looks like I may have to do some reading on this complex man.
Always interesting to see what happened on my birthday in history and who shares my birthday as well...
Happy birthday!
@@anneboleynfiles thank you so much!
Thank you.
🇦🇺🦘(viewed again on 30/5/2021) A fascinating man, to say the least! It would appear that Christopher Marlowe was as 'mysterious' in life as he was in death. ..
A playwright and poet, but also a possible 'spy' as weIl. Involved in several fights, so whether his death was a result of murder or self defence, we'll never know, although at the inquest his death was deemed self defence. His killer being freed. ...
All quite interesting. "Thank you" Claire 👑👍
While at university I watched a performance of Edward II. It was all an Elizabethan tragedy should be; the story was well-told and the language was, well, Shakespearian. But still it was horrific -- skirting the limits of what is suitable for theatre.
Marlowe was a crafty fellow with loads of spirit, many had cause to disagree with him and given his history he was a fighter. A sad end he met, but not a surprise.
We need a tour of your room
I saw Dr Faustus by Marlowe at the New Rose theatre in 2014, it was an unforgettable one man performance. I have to say that Marlowes existence is more evidence for Shakespeare being one of Elizabeth’s newly educated protégés, as most Shakespeare doubters real complaint is that Shakespeare couldn’t be from his relatively impoverished class, as a peasants son. Most now think it was Edward deVere. I think on that matter, the named alternative Shakespeares do not match in writing styles and that’s more important. Thank you for the great presentations.
Marlowe was better educated than Shakespeare seems to have been. Ben Jonson said Shakespeare had "small Latin and less Greek" but Marlowe likes to throw his Latin about and even manages to get some Spanish into the Jew Of Malta and French into Massacre At Paris. One of the less lurid things the informer Baines wrote about him was that he thought the New Testament was "filthily written" and indeed the Greek of the New Testament is rather more commonplace than that found in the Ancient Greek poetry Marlowe translated.
It may be coincidence, but the Puritan John Penry was executed on 29 May 1593 at St Thomas Watering. Within 24 hours Marlowe was also dead.
Perhaps a bit romantic but I so want to believe that William Shakespeare himself (and not Bacon, de Vere, Marlowe or others) created those masterpieces. The William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon makes for a better legend.
yes .accrediting one man does make for a better legend, and better marketing opportunities, LOL
I've never been convinced by these theories. In the case of Marlowe, his personality and style are quite different from Shakespeare's. Homosexuality is a significant theme in Edward II and a marginal theme in one or two other Marlowe plays, and Doctor Faustus suggests he was fascinated by people who sailed in very choppy religious waters indeed. There is nothing quite like this in Shakespeare who seems to have led a much quieter life even though he did not live to a great age either.
Not xertain about Shakespeare's works but I did hear that the Iliad and the Odyssey were NOT written by Homer, but by another man of the same name!
There was a definite fear of atheism at the time. After all, people in 16th century England were told the Pope was the head of the church, then that it was the king and those who maintained the earlier opinion were traitors, then it was back to Roman Catholicism, then this was reversed although never enough for some Protestants. The religious roller coaster would have thrown some people off at every turn and created a suspicion, especially among the educated and Marlowe was educated, that it was all "hobgoblins", as Marlowe reportedly asserted.
Kit was not Marlowe's nickname. A nickname can be any name other than somebody's real name. Kit specifically applies to men named Christopher, in the same way that Ted specifically applies to Edward.
Didn't Queen Elizabeth I secretly View a Shakespeare's play?
I'm not sure about viewing one secretly but I'm sure that his company performed at court.
@@anneboleynfiles The closest Shakespeare may have come to imprisonment and even execution was when a performance of Richard II was worked into the Essex rebellion. Elizabeth remarked to her courtiers, "I am Richard II, know ye not that?" Since Richard was deposed, performing the play was potentially treasonable.
I have one thought against Marlowe being the author of Shakespeare's works and that is why not take the credit? He was already a known poet and playwright and he certainly had the talent so I do not believe that theory but anything else is possible plus the fact that he and his companions may genuinely have had a fall out at Deptford and to save embarrassment to their employer they prettied up the reasons.
Is it just me or are there spirits trying to get a message through from the other side?
7:46, then a response at 7:52. Then an even better one at 12:47. Interesting parts of the speech too.
Please excuse me, I am, in fact, an actual crackpot.
Even if "Shakespeare"was only a pen name, then Why can't the Earl of Southampton, be be Shakespeare????????........ I really don't care if Marlow,Southampton or Shakespeare wrote the works, i do like English Literature, and will never give up my copy of Shakespeare's works...
Matthew Parker. AKA Nosey Parker.
Interesting hearing the different theories of Marlows death. Always thought he was a bit of a scamp and was curious about his stabbing . Thank you!
Ah we all love a bad boy 😍
I know nothing about Marlowe except what I've heard here. On a quick judgement call it sounds like he was kind of a scumbag who died how he lived.
Allegedly he also said that the New Testament was filthily written. I assume he came to this conclusion after reading epistle after epistle of dry and questionable doctrine.
I wonder if it was a negative comment on the Koine Greek used in the NT, as opposed to the Classical Greek with which Marlowe was familiar. Koine was somewhat "dumbed-down", as it was widely used as a second language. I lack the scholarship to say this first-hand but the actual grammar and mastery of Greek in the NT is reportedly variable - Luke and Acts are supposed to be in good Greek while Revelation is not.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Good point. Some modern Christians believe that The Gospel According to John and the Book of Revelation were written by the same John. That's not likely, since the earlier work was well-written while the latter book was in dummied-down Greek. And the language of the Epistles attributed to Paul is varied enough that several authors must have been involved. I can't imagine that Marlowe enjoyed reading any of them.
Matthew Parker was the original Nosey Parker, due to his over-sized proboscis! 👃
Wow, Marlowe was a blasphemous heretic! I like him! 😂
FAKE, FAKE, FAKE!