June 1 - Christopher Marlowe's death and inquest

On this day in Tudor history, 1st June 1593, the inquest into the death of playwright, poet and translator Christopher Marlowe took place. 

 

Twenty-nine-year-old Marlowe, writer of such famous works as “Tamburlaine”, “Dr Faustus” and “The Jew of Malta”, had been fatally stabbed at a house in Deptford Strand, London, by a man named Ingram Frizer on 30th May 1593, but what happened?

 

In today's "on this day" talk, historian Claire Ridgway shares William Danby's coroner's report on what happened that fateful day.

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 1st June 1533, Whitsunday, a pregnant Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony performed by her good friend, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Find out more in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/RODcq1iD2lI 

 

You can find out more about Marlowe and the theories regarding his death in Claire's video for February 26 – Christopher Marlowe – a rather colourful character! - https://youtu.be/QnT2Qp7RuXc

 

The books Claire mentioned can be read online:

 

Christopher Marlowe by Frerick S Boas - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.461513/page/n295/mode/2up 

The Death of Christopher Marlowe by J Leslie Hotson - https://archive.org/details/deathofchristoph008072mbp/page/n39/mode/2up