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Case file s1845 · Literature and art · 1593
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1593
Christopher Marlowe: Unknown 21-year old man, supposed to be Christopher Marlowe title QS:P1476,en:"Unknown 21-year old man, supposed to be C
Christopher Marlowe. anonymous. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
30 May 1593
Place
Deptford, England
Field
playwright · Literature and writing on the timeline
Legal tradition
English common law (coroner's inquest) · Common law
Historical event
The Elizabethan secret service and the 1593 atheism inquiries
Religion
Christopher Marlowe: Atheist and agnostic (recorded as Early modern atheists on Wikipedia)
Literature and artSecret children and false heirsMurder and sudden deathEmpires and conquestEuropeUnited Kingdom

Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford house on 30 May 1593 by a man later pardoned in 28 days, and the inquest record was found in 1925

Christopher Marlowe, 29, died on 30 May 1593 in a room hired at the house of Dame Eleanor Bull in Deptford. With him were Ingram Frizer, Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, all tied to the secret service or to Thomas Walsingham. The Marlowe Society says Marlowe had been arrested on 20 May on a charge of atheism and released on bail. The Queen's coroner, William Danby, held the inquest on 1 June. His finding was that Frizer killed Marlowe in self-defence in a quarrel over the bill. Marlowe was buried that day in an unmarked grave at St. Nicholas churchyard, Deptford. Frizer was pardoned after about 28 days (28 June) and went back to Walsingham's service. Scholar Leslie Hotson found the coroner's report in 1925 at the Public Record Office, catalogued as Chancery C260/174/27. Some historians say the inquest was irregular because Danby sat alone and the pardon came fast, and argue for a government killing. Others say Marlowe faked his death. Neither is proven. Marlowe left no known will†.

What the law took from it

The coroner's record is the only legal account of a death, and it is written by the people who benefit from it.

Sources
  1. archive.spectator.co.ukGovernment record
  2. marlowe-society.orgPress
  3. worldhistory.orgPress
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford house on 30 May 1593 by a man later pardoned in 28 days, and the inquest record was found in 1925,” story s1845, https://www.celebrity.estate/christopher-marlowe-1593, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artSecret children and false heirsMurder and sudden deathEmpires and conquestEuropeCommon lawUnited Kingdom