Christopher Marlowe and Canterbury
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ay Nat The playwright and poet ns W ion ow al D T h r t a ROUTE DESCRIPTION r i Christopher Marlowe was born in o l N Canterbury in 1564, the son of a 1 Marlowe’s home: At this point, decide whether to His time at the King’s School is shoemaker. His groundbreaking C e 8 enter the grounds of Canterbury commemorated by a plaque. 1 St George’s Church le 0 b 2 ra 8- tin 97 use of blank verse and dynamic g 40 years 1 Cathedral, where fees apply. (Visit plotlines paved the way for Christopher Marlowe was baptised at www.canterbury-cathedral.org or Canterbury Cathedral Archives is on William Shakespeare, yet he the church of St George the Martyr on phone 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 gates 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 Deptford, the truth may and Canterbury until their deaths in 1605. Continue straight ahead through Visit the web page www.canterbury- yet turn out to be stranger than the cloisters, where you will find cathedral.org/history/archives to plan a 1.3 MILE (2.1KM) WALK fiction. The house, believed to have been Kent Archives through the third visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives. ALTERNATIVE ROUTE 1.6 MILE (2.6KM) the Marlowe family home and the entrance. workshop for shoemaker John Leaving Kent Archives, turn left into Marlowe in the sixteenth century, If you don’t visit the Cathedral, the covered walkway. was where Fenwick department store continue down Sun Street, past the stands today. John became a freeman Tourist Information Centre and into At the end turn left again, out into of Canterbury in 1564, the year of Palace Street. the grounds of Kings School. Christopher’s birth, which entitled Turn left >before the Bell and Crown Continue round the green towards him to trade in the city. Until leaving pub< and you will see St Alphege the gate in the far-left hand corner. Canterbury for Cambridge, Christopher Church. (Skip ahead to 4.) lived here with his parents who had Leave the precinct and turn left nine children, six of whom survived down Palace Street. into adulthood. 3 Marlowe’s school days: Cathedral, Cathedral Archives Once you reach the Bell and From the clock tower, go down the and the King’s School Crown pub, turn right to find High Street. St Alphege Church. When he was fourteen, Marlowe After 160 metres, turn right became a King’s Scholar, one of “fifty into Butchery Lane towards the boys both destitute of the help of 4 Marlowe’s influences: cathedral. friends and endowed with minds apt St Alphege Church EXPLOREKENT.ORG for learning”. Turn left at the end towards the When Protestant refugees fleeing Buttermarket. Pupils were expected to speak in Latin religious persecution on the continent at all times, even when playing. The first came to Canterbury, St Alphege was the church allotted 2 Marlowe’s Canterbury: school day began at six in the morning for their use until their numbers The Buttermarket and with a psalm and litany and ended became so great they moved to the The Sun Inn at five in the evening with a psalm, a litany and a prayer. As well as learning cathedral crypt. At the time of Christopher Marlowe’s religion and music, the scholars sang In 1572, when Marlowe was eight birth, Canterbury was a small town of Mass in the cathedral every morning. years old, the city would have been about seven hundred households, with At the age of sixteen and a half, abuzz with reports of the Massacre wooden framed buildings like the Sun Marlowe won a scholarship to Corpus of St Bartholomew’s Eve. Over three Inn. This was the home of Marlowe’s Christi College, Cambridge, becoming thousand French Protestants, or contemporary from the King’s School, Bachelor of the Arts in 1584. Huguenots, were murdered in Paris the writer John Lyly. The city was on the orders of Catherine de Médicis, crowded, dirty and full of disease. mother of the king, Charles IX. “Agent for England, send thy mistress word Retrace your steps back along the lifetime. The Greyfriars returned to Elizabeth stayed here for several On Friday 15 September 1592, on a visit What this detested Jacobin High Street to the Canterbury Canterbury in the last century and now days, including her fortieth birthday, home to Canterbury, somewhere close to hath done”. The Massacre at Paris, 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 Tamburlaine. 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 Marlowe Memorial 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, Ingram Frizer, 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 Gate Tower. 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 them back to England to be published The Westgate Tower time.