Thomas Dekker, (c. 1572 – August 25, 1632), was an Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer. Events January 16 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. ... August 25 is the 237th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (238th in leap years), with 128 days remaining. ... See also: 1632 (novel) Events February 22 - Galileos Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published July 23 - 300 colonists for New France depart Dieppe November 8 - Wladyslaw IV Waza elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after Zygmunt III Waza death November 16 - Battle of Lützen... Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ...

He is thought to have been born in London, but little else is known about his life, apart from the fact that he spent time (including the years 1613-1619) in prison for debt. The first of his plays known to have been performed were Old Fortunatus and The Shoemaker's Holiday, in 1600. In addition to his own plays, he collaborated with others, including Thomas Middleton, Philip Massinger and, most famously, John Webster. The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Debt is that which is owed. ... // Events January January 1 - Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Years Day February February 17 - Giordano Bruno burned at the stake for heresy July July 2 - Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Albert in a battle on the coastal dunes. ... Thomas Middleton (baptized April 18, 1580, died 1627) was an English Elizabethan playwright and poet. ... Philip Massinger (1583 - 1640) was an English dramatist. ... John Webster (c. ...

Dekker's pamphlets, which describe the daily life of London in valuable detail, include The Wonderfull Yeare (1603) and The Belman of London (1608). King James I of England/VII of Scotland, the first monarch to rule the Kingdoms of England and Scotland at the same time Events March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England April... Events March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen. ...

Thomas Dekker came back into scene in the twentieth century (although almost unnoticeably) when the Beatles included part of his ballad "Golden Slumbers" in their 1969 song of the same title. The Beatles were a British pop and rock group from Liverpool. ... Golden Slumbers is a Beatles song. ...

Thomas Dekker is believed to have been born in London around 1572, but nothing is known for certain about his youth. He embarked on a career as a theatre writer early in his adult life, the first extant text of his work being ‘Old Fortunatus’ written around 1596, although there are plays connected with his name which were performed as early as 1594. The period from 1596 to 1602 was the most prolific of his career, with 20 plays being attributed to him and an involvement in up to 28 other plays being suggested. It was during this period that he produced his most famous work, ‘The Shoemaker’s Holiday, or the Gentle Craft’, categorised by modern critics as citizen comedy, it reflects his concerns with the daily lives of ordinary Londoners. This play exemplifies his vivid use of language and the intermingling of everyday subjects with the fantastical, embodied in this case by the rise of a craftsman to Mayor and the involvement of an unnamed but idealised king in the concluding banquet.

He exhibited a similar vigour in such prose pamphlets as the ironically entitled ‘The Wonderfull Yeare’ (1603), about the plague, ‘The Belman of London’ (1608), about roguery and crime, and ‘The Guls Horne-Booke’ (1609), a valuable account of behaviour in the London theatres. Dekker was partly responsible for devising the street entertainment to celebrate the entry of James I into London in 1603 and he managed the Lord Mayor's pageant in 1612. His fortunes took a turn for the worse shortly after, when between 1613 and 1619 he was imprisoned, probably for debt; this experience may be behind his six prison scenes first included in the sixth edition (1616) of Sir Thomas Overbury's ‘Characters’. He died in 1632 and was buried at St James’, Clerkenwell.

External Links

• The Works of Thomas Dekker Online
• The Noble Spanish Soldier