God's Spies - Spenser and Marlowe
Act 2 - To Be or Not To Be
God’s Spies – Spenser and Marlowe
“Come, let's away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies …” [from King Lear, Act V, scene iii]
This is a story about ‘William Shakespeare’. While some scholars assert that a different writer was the actual author of Shakespeare’s plays, like Francis Bacon or the Earl of Oxford, there’s not much evidence for these two. However, one other theory that gathers much evidence is that Christopher Marlowe was the actual playwright. Much has been written about Marlowe and much has been written about Shakespeare, and while some of it is very interesting, some of it is merely hearsay or gossip or imagined. Trying to unravel what is myth and what is possible, and what we should believe about their lives, is often a painstaking and thought-provoking exercise, but one that however might bring us a little closer to seeing the real ‘William Shakespeare’ and the real Christopher Marlowe, and to glimpse a story of what might have been.
Act 2 – To Be or Not To Be
Christopher Marlowe
It was shortly after this attack on Ralegh that there occurred an attack on Marlowe, that some people say led to the ‘event’ of his death, or, as other people say, led to the ‘invent’ of his death.
Early 1593 saw riots in England against the immigrant communities in London. In March, when Parliament debated a bill to extend the privileges for immigrant traders (Dutch merchants), one of those who argued against it was Ralegh – opposing granting them concessions and privileges, but to expel them and end their stranglehold on the economy.
Soon, anti-immigrant posters began to appear – but ‘violently’ trying to echo Ralegh’s views. One anti-Dutch poster was put up at a church on May 5th and signed ‘Tamburlaine’ – the title of Marlowe’s play.
[Note: a copy of ‘A Libell, fixte vpon the French Church Wall, in London. Anno 1593’ was discovered in 1971 – in ‘Marlowe, Kyd, and the Dutch Church Libel’, by Arthur Freeman, English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1973]
Lines from the poster read:
“Your Machiavellian Merchant spoils the state,
Your usury doth leave us all for dead,
Your artifex and craftsman works our fate,
And like the Jews you eat us up as bread.”
Further on the poster reads:
“Since words nor threats nor any other thing
Can make you to avoid this certain ill.
We’ll cut your throats, in your temples praying,
Not Paris massacre so much blood did spill.”
Whoever did pen this poster certainly knew of Marlowe’s play ‘Tamburlaine’ (performed in 1587) but also was referring to ‘Jew of Malta’ (performed in 1592) where the ghost of Machiavelli speaks in the prologue, and also to the “Massacre at Paris’ (performed in January 1593). The poster implies that the authorship of all the plays was by the same person – Marlowe, and that this libel was meant to directly implicate Marlowe and Ralegh.
A reward was offered for any information about the posters, and the Privy Council set up a special commission to arrest the authors of these ‘libels’. One playwright, a victim of an informer, was subsequently arrested: Thomas Kyd (the friend of Spenser and Marlowe). When his lodgings were searched, no evidence relating to the poster was found, but it is ‘claimed’ that three pages of ‘atheistic’ writings were found instead. Kyd was tortured and it is ‘claimed’ that he confessed that these writings belonged to his former roommate – Christopher Marlowe.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Marlowe, who appeared before the Court, was released and granted bail, and told to wait until he was summoned. Meanwhile, an informer was sent to gather any hearsay and gossip that could be used against Marlowe at trial, where the punishment for such a crime was to be burned at the stake.
Were the arrests of Kyd and Marlowe done because of some ‘anti-Dutch’ poster placed at a ‘French’ church? Why would this be so upsetting to the Privy Council? Were the arrests of Kyd and Marlowe done because of the play about Doctor Faustus – and the scandal about magic and necromancy? or the play about St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre – and the threat of riots to start a ‘religious war’? Was this all part of an actual witch-hunt launched against Ralegh and his circle – that included Marlowe; and who were targeted by Persons ? Perhaps by those same circles he had spied on at Rheims, that were implicated in the Babington plot?
As you can see from the preceding paragraph, at this point we are entering into the realm of intrigue and of imagination – but hopefully, not into a world of fantastic speculations where we are led by seemingly random chance and unexplained forces, but rather, into a world of reasoned hypotheses, where we attempt to piece together a rational ordering of people, places and dates. So, in proceding with our story, we should remember what Strabo says about Homer’s method of discovery – rely on our imagination, but never let it stray from the truth.
Continuing with our story, before Marlowe could be put on trial, he would mysteriously ‘die’ – on the very last day of his bail, and the man who committed the ‘murder’, Ingram Frizer, would later be released, on the grounds of self defence.
We can read the actual coroner’s report of this killing, written by William Darby, the Coroner of the household to our lady the Queen – not some local official, but the Royal Coroner!
“… Ingram ffrysar … Christopher Morley … Nicholas Skeres … and Robert Poley … about the tenth hour before noon of the same day [May 30], met together in a room in the house of a certain Eleanor Bull, widow; & there passed the time together & dined & after dinner were in quiet sort together there & walked in the garden belonging to the said house until the sixth hour after noon of the same day & then returned from the said garden to the room aforesaid & there together and in company supped, & after supper the said Ingram & Christopher Morley were in speech & uttered one to the other divers malicious words for the reason that they could not be at one nor agree about payment of the sum of pence, that is, le recknynge [the reckoning], there, & the said Christopher Morley then lying on a bed in the room where they supped, & moved with anger against the said Ingram ffrysar upon the words as aforesaid spoken between them, And the said Ingram then & there sitting in the room aforesaid with his back towards the bed where the said Christopher Morley was then lying, sitting near the bed, that is, nere the bed, & with the front part of his body towards the table & the aforesaid Nicholas Skeres & Robert Poley sitting on either side of the said Ingram in such a manner that the same Ingram ffrysar in no wise could take flight: it so befell that the said Christopher Morley on a sudden & of his malice towards the said Ingram aforethought, then & there maliciously drew the dagger of the said Ingram which was at his back, and with the same dagger the said Christopher Morley then & there maliciously gave the aforesaid Ingram two wounds on his head of the length of two inches & the depth of a quarter of an inch; whereupon the said Ingram, in fear of being slain, & sitting in the manner aforesaid between the said Nicholas Skeres & Robert Poley so that he could not in any wise get away, in his own defence & for the saving of his life, then & there struggled with the said Christopher Morley to get back from him his dagger aforesaid; in which affray the same Ingram could not get away from the said Christopher Morley; and so it befell in that affray that the said Ingram, in defence of his life, with the dagger aforesaid of the value of 12d. gave the said Christopher then & there a mortal wound over the right eye of the depth of two inches & of the width of one inch; of which mortal wound the aforesaid Christopher Morley then & there instantly died”
[taken from ‘The Death of Christopher Marlowe’, by Leslie Hotson]
[Note the use of ‘le recknynge’ [the reckoning] to describe the cause of the argument that led to Marlowe’s ‘death’.]
So now, this is the story that we are given, to say that Marlowe was ‘killed’. However, it seems that of the four people meeting at the inn that day when Marlowe was ‘killed’, that:
1. Nicholas Skeares worked for the Earl of Essex;
2. Robert Poley worked as a spy for Francis Walsingham and was part of the uncovering of the Babington plot;
3. Ingram Frizer worked for Francis Walsingham’s cousin, Thomas Walsingham, who was also the patron of
4. Christopher Marlowe!
Why would one of these four friends, who all worked in the same political circle, want to have Marlowe killed? Or was Marlowe being set up as the ‘patsy’, the ‘fall guy’? But not to be killed, but to make it look that way. Perhaps, a different conspiracy had been quickly hatched, to claim that Marlowe had indeed been killed, and a staging of his ‘death’ had been done? This would have stopped any further attacks on Marlowe and his compatriots. But also, it would have provided Marlowe with a ‘cover’ for his ‘flight’, perhaps to the continent.
Now, it is at this juncture point, a most important crossroad in the history of England literature, that we see the entry onto the world stage of ‘William Shakespeare’. And we should begin with an assertion that there really was a person in history named William Shakespeare, from Stratford-upon-Avon.
But there are very little details about the actual life of William Shakespeare – it’s as if he was the invisible man. It’s not even known when he was born – there is only the record of his baptism on April 26th 1564. So, some people made a guess that he was born three days before his baptism, so that it could be said that he was born April 23rd, St. George’s Day, and because it also could be said that he was born on the same day that he died (April 23rd 1616).
It is not known if he went to school, any school – not to university or not even to a grammar school. But because Ben Jonson wrote a eulogy to Shakespeare that was included in the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, that “though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek”, therefore it was assumed by some people that he had to have had some schooling somewhere, (to learn some Latin and less Greek) and so, speculations were written to try to account for the necessary education that Shakespeare would have required to be able to write any of Shakespeare’s plays.
It is not known when he was married – there is only the record of November 27th 1582, that at the age of 18, he obtained a special license to marry 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, and that six months later, a daughter Susanna was baptised on May 26th 1583, and that two years later, their twins, Judith and Hamnet (who were probably named after their neighbours, Hamnet and Judith Sadler) were baptised on February 2nd 1585.
We only learn further details about William Shakespeare’s life from Nicholas Rowe, in ‘Some Account of the Life, &c, of Mr. William Shakespeare’, from his 1709 edition of Shakespeare’s plays [over 90 years after his death]:
“He had, by a Misfortune common enough to young Fellows, fallen into ill Company; and amongst them, some that made a frequent practice of Deer-stealing, engag'd him with them more than once in robbing a Park that belong'd to Sir Thomas Lucy of Cherlecot, near Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by that Gentleman, as he thought, somewhat too severely; and in order to revenge that ill Usage, he made a Ballad upon him. And tho' this, probably the first Essay of his Poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter, that it redoubled the Prosecution against him to that degree, that he was oblig'd to leave his Business and Family in Warwickshire, for some time, and shelter himself in London. It is at this Time, and upon this Accident, that he is said to have made his first Acquaintance in the Play-house. He was receiv'd into the Company then in being, at first in a very mean Rank …”
A further account as to what was meant by ‘a very mean rank’ is given in a later 1765 edition of Shakespeare’s plays, where, at the end of Rowe’s ‘Account of the Life of Shakespeare’, a passage is added by Samuel Johnson, “which Mr. [Alexander] Pope related, as communicated to him by Mr. [Nicholas] Rowe”:
“ when Shakespeare fled to London from the terror of a criminal prosecution, his first expedient was to wait at the door of the play-house, and hold the horses of those that had no servants, that they might be ready again after the performance … In this office he became so conspicuous for his care and readiness, that in a short time every man as he alighted called for Will. Shakspeare, and scarcely any other waiter was trusted with a horse while Will. Shakspeare could be had. This was the first dawn of better fortune. Shakspeare, finding more horses put into his hand than he could hold, hired boys to wait under his inspection, who, when Will. Shakspeare was summoned, were immediately to present themselves, ‘I am Shakspeare’s boy, Sir’. In time, Shakspeare found higher employment: but as long as the practice of riding to the playhouse continued, the waiters that held the horses retained the appellation of, Shakspeare’s boys.”
This is what little we know of the early life of the actual William Shakespeare, and of how he came into association with the playhouses. Everything else that’s written about the early life of William Shakespeare is someone’s speculation or imagination. And what little we do know, was written almost 100 years after he died!
Rowe continues in his ‘Account’ with the ‘so-called’ fantastical tale of how Shakespeare came to be a poet,
“But his admirable Wit, and the natural Turn of it to the Stage, soon distinguished him, if not as an extraodinary Actor, yet as an excellent Writer. His Name is Printed, as the Custom was in those Times, amongst those of the other Players, before some old Plays, but without any particular Account of what sort of Parts he us'd to play; and tho' I have inquir'd, I could never meet with any further Account of him this way, than that the top of his Performance was the Ghost in his own Hamlet …”
This is the ‘standard accepted’ story and is to be simply assumed to be true. As I said – he’s the Invisible Man. But DID William Shakespeare, the son of a glove-maker, with no known education, and no known history – except for when he was being harassed for poaching on the estate of a lord, fled to London and found employment by waiting with the horses of patrons going to the theatre – suddenly become a published poet, and one of the leading playwrights in all of London ?!? Wow !!! But, why was he the only one able to pull off such a miracle?
Let’s continue to look at what we do know to be true.
The first time that we will see the name ‘Shakespeare’ in print is in 1593 – the year of Marlowe’s ‘reckoning’. The poem ‘Venus and Adonis’ was registered in April 1593 (a month before the ‘reckoning’) and was published in June (perhaps a week after Marlowe’s so-called ‘death’) and while the title page did not show an author’s name, the dedication page (perhaps added later) was signed by ‘William Shakespeare’ (his first literary appearance).
In the autumn of 1593, after the ‘reckoning’, Marlowe’s unfinished poem ‘Hero and Leander’ was registered but was not published.
[Five years later, in 1598, this unfinished poem would be published and posthumously dedicated to Thomas Walsingham, by the publisher Edward Blount.]
The next year, in May 1594, the poem ‘Lucrece’ was registered and was published, again with no author’s name on the title page, but with the dedication page (again, perhaps added later) signed by ‘William Shakespeare’ (his second literary appearance).
And, so by the end of 1594, a person named ‘William Shakespeare’ became a shareholder in a play company – negotiated with his offer of a play script and a promise of more.
However, an important point has to be remembered about this 1593-94 period – that the London theatres were closed, from the summer of 1593 until the summer of 1594, because of an outbreak of plague, so that our ‘William Shakespeare’ that waited with the horses of patrons attending the theatre, would have become very unemployed!!! Now, are we to believe that he just hung around and then, on a whim, looking for a new job, he decided to start writing poetry instead (and very good poetry for his very first attempt too, we might add) ?!?
Or may we more reasonably assume, that being presently unemployed and not wishing to be in London during the plague, he took this opportunity to return home, straighten things out with the Lord, rejoin his wife and children, and with his new-found confidence in his business ability, set up shop at Stratford-upon-Avon.
So, what if we hypothesize that these two finished poems, ‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘Lucrece’, as well as the unfinished poem, ‘Hero and Leander’ were all written by Christopher Marlowe, and that while no author’s name was listed when the two finished poems were being prepared for publication, a dedication page was simply added later. But since Christopher Marlowe’s name could not be used as the author (to avoid restarting the witch-hunt) and since he was now considered to be deceased anyway, an unassuming name should be chosen, like the name of the simple commoner who watched patron’s horses (Shakespeare was a fairly common name in Warwickshire), plus he was of the same age as Marlowe too. And so the author’s name was given as ‘William Shakespeare’.
Let’s now restate our hypothesis before proceeding – that Marlowe’s ‘reckoning’ and ‘death’ was fake and staged, that after a William Shakespeare had left London to return home to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1593, the name of ‘William Shakespeare’ was used by Christopher Marlowe, to be the purported author of his poems and of his future plays. Why should our hypothesis be any less valid than another person’s speculation and imagination? For to be honest, the ‘standard accepted’ story of William Shakespeare’s life is just that, an imagined story.
Now, with all that in mind, let’s continue to hypothesize the rest of our story and try not to stray from the truth. But for now, until things had quieted down a bit, Marlowe would have to leave England.
[ next week - act 3 - The Sonnets and a ‘Journey in my Head’ ]