The Tudor Society

September 3 – Death of playwright Robert Greene

On this day in Tudor history, 3rd September 1592, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabethan writer and playwright Robert Greene died in London.

Robert Greene was a prolific writer, but he is best known for the pamphlet "Greene's Groats-worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance". It was said that he wrote the pamphlet on his deathbed.

Why is the pamphlet important?

Well, because it is the first known contemporary reference to William Shakespeare as a playwright. The reference to Shakespeare isn't a compliment, it was actually an attack on the Bard, who Greene saw as an "upstart crow".

Find out more about the pamphlet and why Greene, or whoever wrote it, launched an attack on Shakespeare...

Links for further reading:
https://www.exclassics.com/groat/grtintro.htm
https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/exhibition/document/greenes-groats-worth-witte-first-printed-allusion-shakespeare-playwright

There are 2 comments Go To Comment

  1. m

    how did playwright, Robert Greene, die @ age 34?

  2. m

    just saw the vid; he died from fever.
    thanx!

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September 3 – Death of playwright Robert Greene