Thursday 28th May
7pm – 8.30pm
Blackwells, Oxford
To coincide with the Bodleian’s Marks of Genius exhibition (which displays, among other things, Edmund Malone’s quarto of Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus I’ll be reading from The Marlowe Papers and talking about Marlowe. If you’re in the area, do come along – it’s free! Includes Q&A.
I have just watched your YouTube video on Kit Marlowe. I favour the assassination theory and the joining of the evidential dots. Is Sir Thomas Walsingham a possible instigator of Marlowes murder? The grounds for this could be a simple disclosure by Marlowe of the workings of government at the time. Marlowes plays written from his experiences, as authors and playwrights often do, may have made Walsingham and the Privy Council nervous. If Walsingham, Marlowes friend, or the network of spy’s of which Marlowe was evidently one. Marlowes duel life of public playwright and private spy clashed on the stage. The nuances within Marlowes work, when witnessed on stage by the privy council, would be clear to them and make Marlowe a liability to the security of England. Marlowes duality is his downfall. His public work as a playwright and the content of this public material may have made him a private danger to even Walsingham. Marlowes friendship with and patronage by Walsingham may have made Kit feel safe. In actuality it may have been his downfall. I would be interested in your thoughts on this. Regards.
If you have watched both videos (Part 1 and Part2) you will understand there is no evidence to support Sir Thomas Walsingham being a possible instigator of Marlowe’s murder. Thomas Walsingham had retired from the intelligence service by 1590 when he inherited Scadbury. His friendship to Marlowe is attested to by Marlowe’s publisher, Edward Blount. The additional fact that George Chapman finished Marlowe’s Hero and Leander and dedicated it to Audrey Walsingham (Sir Thomas’s wife) adds to the evidence that Walsingham remained a friend of Marlowe, not someone who would have had him killed. There is no motive apparent. What you are suggesting is speculation (and has been suggested by others) but the evidence that we have does not support it.
Dear Ms. Barber,
I’m a disillusioned Stratfordian and have seen many youtube videos that discuss the evidence regarding the Shakespeare authorship.
I am a cartographer and collect antique maps and have read Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and learned that his use of “Illyria” was a mark of his ignorance. Perhaps you are aware of existence of the name but I haven’t come across it in the discussions I’ve watched or in the few books I’ve read so far. There is a Flemish cartographer named Abraham Ortelius who published the first world atlas. He published it in 1570 and printings continued until 1612. Besides the maps that covered the world, he had a historical map section in the back of the atlas, called the Parergon. Among the maps were some that covered the area we used to call Yugoslavia. One map is titled Illyricum. Another, his historical map of Italy also labels the area Illyricum. Shakespeare wouldn’t have had to go very far to find Illyricum. The Ortelius Atlas was common in libraries. Costly but common.
I just have to believe this is already known to you but I hadn’t seen it in any publications so I’ve forwarded it to you.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Richard