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Christopher Marlowe

English dramatist, poet and translator (1564-1593) · United Kingdom · Writers · Died at 29

Christopher Marlowe is read about 1,433 times a day, in 81 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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He made blank verse the language of English theatre and died at 29 in a tavern stabbing that still doesn't add up. The coroner's report surfaced three centuries late, and scholars argue over whether it was a bar brawl, a spy job, or something the Privy Council wanted buried.

WritersWriter / AuthorTheatrePoetryLiteratureEarly Modern Era

A life in dates

1593Died30 May 15931589“I count religion but a childish toy, / And hold there is no sin but ignorance.”In their wordsMachiavel, Prologue

1588“Our swords shall play the orators for us.”In their wordsTechelles, Act I, scene ii, line 132

“Accurst be he that first invented war.”In their wordsMycetes, Part 1, Act II, scene iv, line 1

1586“Pluck up your hearts, since fate still rests our friend.”In their wordsAeneas, Act I, scene i, line 149

“What strange arts necessity finds out.”In their wordsVenus, Act I, scene i, line 169

1564Born23 February 1564

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

,
Christopher Marlowe
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. I count religion but a childish toy, / And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

    1589, Machiavel, Prologue, Own words

  2. Time passeth swift away; / Our life is frail, and we may die to-day.

    1588, Mycetes, Act I, scene i, line 68, Own words

  3. Our swords shall play the orators for us.

    1588, Techelles, Act I, scene ii, line 132, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this person

Baptised in February 1564, Marlowe rose fast in Elizabethan London as the playwright who cracked the code - blank verse, overreaching heroes, humanistic themes laced with spectacular violence. Tamburlaine spawned so many imitators that he became the city's foremost dramatist, widely believed to have shaped Shakespeare, who was baptised the same year and later eclipsed him. Then came 30 May 1593: a death in a tavern, contested ever since. The official coroner's account didn't surface until 1925, and it settled nothing - theories still swirl around blasphemy charges, espionage, betrayal, and whether the Privy Council had a hand in it. His life ended as dramatically as the plays he left behind.

Country
United Kingdom
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1564 to 1593 · aged 29

Writers from the United Kingdom 6

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