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, I share 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:
You can find out more about Marlowe and the theories regarding his death in my video for February 26 – Christopher Marlowe – a rather colourful character!
The books I 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
Also on this day in history:
- 1451 or 1452 – Birth of Giles Daubenay, administrator, soldier, and diplomat. He was influential in Henry VII's reign, and Catherine of Aragon wrote that "he was the man who could do most in private with the king".
- 1563 – Birth of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, politician and courtier. Cecil was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and his second wife, Mildred. It was Cecil who proclaimed the accession of King James I after Elizabeth I's death.
- 1571 – Execution of Catholic martyr and civil lawyer John Story, at Tyburn.
- 1573 – Birth of explorer James Rosier in Suffolk. Rosier went on the 1605 voyage to explore the fishing grounds off the Maine coast as "cape merchant, observer, and reporter", and recorded the voyage in a journal.
- 1579 – Death of Robert Horne, Bishop of Winchester, at Winchester Place, Southwark. He was buried at Winchester.
- 1583 – Death of George Carew, Dean of Exeter and Dean of the Chapel Royal. He was buried at St Giles-in-the-Fields, London.
- 1598 – Death of Thomas Preston, playwright and Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was buried in Trinity Hall Chapel. He is best known for his play "Cambises".
- 1616 – Burial of Sir Thomas Parry, MP and administrator, at Westminster Abbey. His father was the Thomas Parry who was Comptroller and Treasurer of Elizabeth I's household.