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Home , Ingram Frizer, Marlowe Memorial, Portcullis, The Massacre at Paris

The playwright and poet Christopher was born in ROUTE DESCRIPTION in 1564, the son of a 1 Marlowe’s home: At this point, decide whether to enter His time at the King’s School is shoemaker. His groundbreaking St George’s Church the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral, commemorated by a plaque. use of blank verse and dynamic where fees apply. (Visit www. plotlines paved the way for was baptised at canterbury-cathedral.org or phone Canterbury Cathedral Archives is on , yet he the church of St George the Martyr on 01227 762862 for details.) the site of the medieval dormitory is remembered also for his Saturday, 26 February1564; the entry in of Canterbury Cathedral Priory and roistering lifestyle, a heady the parish register is held at Canterbury If you go into the cathedral precinct, continues a tradition of record- mixture of scandal, religion and Cathedral Archives. Christopher’s head through the and follow keeping at the cathedral that dates espionage. Although it is widely parents, John and Katherine Marlowe, the path to the left of the cathedral back at least 1300 years. The collection Christopher Marlowe believed he met his end in a were married here on 22 May 1561, a round towards the cloisters. contains several documents relating union that lasted nearly forty-four years to Christopher Marlowe and his family. brawl in , the truth may and Canterbury until their deaths in 1605. Continue straight ahead through the Visit the web page www.canterbury- yet turn out to be stranger than cloisters, where you will find Kent cathedral.org/history/archives to plan a 1.3 MILE (2.1KM) WALK fiction. The house, believed to have been Archives through the third entrance. visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives. ALTERNATIVE ROUTE 1.6 MILE (2.6KM) the Marlowe family home and the workshop for shoemaker John If you don’t visit the Cathedral, Leaving Kent Archives, turn left into Marlowe in the sixteenth century, continue down Sun Street, past the the covered walkway. was where Fenwick department store Tourist Information Centre and into stands today. John became a freeman Street. At the end turn left again, out into of Canterbury in 1564, the year of the grounds of Kings School. Turn left >before the Bell and Crown Christopher’s birth, which entitled pub< and you will see St Alphege Continue round the green towards him to trade in the city. Until leaving Church. (Skip ahead to 4.) the in the far-left hand corner. Canterbury for Cambridge, Christopher lived here with his parents who had Leave the precinct and turn left down 3 Marlowe’s school days: nine children, six of whom survived Palace Street. into adulthood. Cathedral, Cathedral Archives and the King’s School Once you reach the Bell and From the clock tower, go down the Crown pub, turn right to find When he was fourteen, Marlowe High Street. St Alphege Church. became a King’s Scholar, one of “fifty After 160 metres, turn right into boys both destitute of the help of Butchery Lane towards the cathedral. friends and endowed with minds apt 4 Marlowe’s influences: for learning”. St Alphege Church Turn left at the end towards the EXPLOREKENT.ORG Buttermarket. Pupils were expected to speak in Latin When Protestant refugees fleeing at all times, even when playing. The religious persecution on the continent first came to Canterbury, 2 Marlowe’s Canterbury: school day began at six in the morning St Alphege was the church allotted The Buttermarket and with a psalm and litany and ended for their use until their numbers The Sun Inn at five in the evening with a psalm, a litany and a prayer. As well as learning became so great they moved to the At the time of Christopher Marlowe’s religion and music, the scholars sang cathedral crypt. birth, Canterbury was a small town of Mass in the cathedral every morning. In 1572, when Marlowe was eight about seven hundred households, with At the age of sixteen and a half, years old, the city would have been wooden framed buildings like the Sun Marlowe won a scholarship to Corpus abuzz with reports of the Massacre Inn. This was the home of Marlowe’s Christi College, Cambridge, becoming of St Bartholomew’s Eve. Over three contemporary from the King’s School, Bachelor of the Arts in 1584. thousand French Protestants, or the writer John Lyly. The city was Huguenots, were murdered in Paris crowded, dirty and full of disease. on the orders of Catherine de Médicis, mother of the king, Charles IX. “Agent for England, send thy mistress word Retrace your steps back along the High lifetime. The Greyfriars returned to Elizabeth stayed here for several On Friday 15 September 1592, on a visit What this detested Jacobin Street to the Canterbury Canterbury in the last century and now days, including her fortieth birthday, home to Canterbury, somewhere close to hath done”. , Act Pilgrims Hospital. worship in the Greyfriars Chapel once which was celebrated with a feast at the corner of Mercery Lane, Christopher Five, Scene Five more. the Archbishop’s Palace. Christopher Marlowe attacked a tailor, William 7 Marlowe’s early life: Marlowe was then nine years old and the Corkine, with a staff and dagger. Corkine Continue past St Alphege Church. Take a walk round the Franciscan Garden Eastbridge Hospital and The pageantry and majesty of the Queen’s filed a case for assault in the civil court. In and relax in this peaceful oasis in the At the end of the road turn left. Weavers visit would later provide inspiration for return, Marlowe pressed criminal charges heart of the city. scenes of lavish wealth and power in against Corkine. Three hundred and sixty- Take the next road on the right, In 1569, Archbishop Matthew Parker . five years after both cases were dropped, The Friars. established a school for twenty boys Upon leaving the priory turn right Canterbury’s Cathedral and City Archivist, in the chapel and endowed two towards the Museum of Canterbury. “A god is not so glorious as a king. I Dr William Urry, discovered a rosebud scholarships at Corpus Christi College, 5 Celebrating Marlowe: think the pleasure they enjoy in heaven pressed between the pages of the town Cambridge. Christopher Marlowe may The Marlowe Theatre and 9 Marlowe’s signature: Cannot compare with kingly joys in earth” sergeant’s plea book. Could this have well have been a pupil here before Stour Street and the Poor Priests’ Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act Two, been a peace offering between Marlowe attending the King’s School and Canterbury has a long theatrical tradition. Hospital Scene Five and Corkine? becoming a Parker Scholar at In the early sixteenth century the city’s Christopher Marlowe came to Stour Corpus Christi. The Queen would touch Marlowe’s life craftsmen could be fined or gaoled for Street on 30 of September 1586 as a A reckoning in Deptford once again when he was recruited by not acting in religious plays. In Marlowe’s witness to the will of his aunt, Katherine On 30 May 1593, Marlowe spent the day The Weavers, built in the early sixteenth the English secret service while a student lifetime, players would have performed in Benchkin. Marlowe’s brother-in-law, John with three fellow government agents in century to house Protestant refugees at Corpus Christi College. His work for courtyards, inns and private houses. Moore, told how Marlowe read the will a house in Deptford, London. It was said from the continent who brought their the government was acknowledged aloud: that Marlowe argued with one of these textile skills to Canterbury, would when the college attempted to withhold The Marlowe memorial, fondly known men, , over “the reckoning” – have been a familiar sight to young his master’s degree as punishment for as Kitty, depicts the Muse of Poetry. The will is the only surviving example the bill for their meal. In the ensuing fight, Christopher. mysterious periods of absence. The pedestal features characters from of Marlowe’s signature and is kept at Frizer stabbed Marlowe in self defence. Marlowe’s plays: Tamburlaine, Dr Faustus, Turn right down Stour Street to the Canterbury Cathedral Archives. England’s most famous dramatist was Barabas and Edward II. The Privy Council wrote a letter informing Greyfriars guest house. dead at the age of twenty-nine. Housed inside a medieval poor priests’ them that Queen Elizabeth did not wish After the Marlowe Theatre continue Go right through the black gates and hospital, the Museum of Canterbury has to see her agent penalised for serving his The Shakespeare question to the High Street. country and Marlowe was awarded his into the gardens. an interactive Marlowe exhibition where Some people believe that Marlowe did you can find out more about his life and degree. Turn right towards the West not die in Deptford and that, aided by work and investigate his mysterious . 8 Marlowe the heretic: powerful friends, he fled the country and death. The Greyfriars 11 Marlowe the rebel: Chequers of lived in exile on the continent. He could the Hope Inn and Mercery Lane have continued writing plays and sent 6 The Marlowe family: The sixteenth century was a dangerous Leaving the museum, follow The Westgate Tower time. People could be executed for Hawks Lane. The vast Chequers of the Hope Inn them back to England to be published stretched ninety metres from the corner under the name William Shakespeare. It Westgate is the only gate to the city that heresy – holding religious beliefs that Turn left at the end past The Canterbury of Mercery Lane. Built to make money has been suggested that Shakespeare’s still stands. At one time it had a portcullis were not sanctioned by the state. Tales into the High Street. from the influx of visitors to the city, the sonnets are a cryptic account of and , and in Marlowe’s time Government informers claimed that Marlowe converted people to atheism ground floor contained shops selling Marlowe’s life in exile. it was the city gaol, imprisoning debtors, Turning left on the High Street you and made jokes about the Bible. He was all manner of goods. Poorer pilgrims thieves and murderers. Marlowe’s father will see the Queen Elizabeth’s Guest Marlowe’s legacy arrested on 18 May 1593 and released were squashed into dormitories on John appears frequently in the city Chamber which is now a coffee shop. on bail. the top floor, while rich pilgrims took Whatever the truth behind the events in archives, taking neighbours to court suites on the first floor, overlooking the Deptford, no-one can doubt Marlowe’s over petty squabbles and being chased Mercery Lane is in front of you, the the The Franciscan friars built their priory grand courtyard where players such tremendous impact on Elizabethan by irate landlords for unpaid debts. site of Chequers of the Hope Inn. after their arrival in England in 1224. The as the Earl of Leicester’s men acted for drama and his legacy to the English Although the family were often forced friary was dissolved in 1538, four years their entertainment. No doubt young language. to move home, John managed to avoid after two of the friars were executed for 10 Marlowe the spy: Christopher knew of this and may even imprisonment here, going on to become treason after opposing Henry VIII. The Queen Elizabeth’s Guest Chamber have seen plays here that fired his More than four hundred years after his warden treasurer of the city’s Company of death, Christopher Marlowe’s star still King’s divorce resulted in a struggle for Adorned with elaborate plasterwork, imagination and ambition. Shoemakers. burns brightly in the city of his birth. England’s soul between Catholics and this building was the focus of great Protestants that dominated Marlowe’s excitement in 1573 when Queen 115 metres Canterbury Library

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1.3 mile (2.1km) walk Alternative route 1.6 mile (2.6km) 1 Train Station Start/Finish Take care Metres 100 200 0 Yards 100 200 © Crown copyright 100019238