Thomas Kyd (1558 - 1594) was an English dramatist, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Events January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ... Events February 27 - Henry IV is crowned King of France at Rheims. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Title page of the Quarto edition (1615) The Spanish Tragedie: or, Hieronimo is Mad Againe is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1587-1590 and first performed in London around 1590. ... Elizabethan theatre is a general term covering the plays written and performed publicly in England during the reign (1558 - 1603) of Queen Elizabeth I. The term can be used more broadly to also include theatre of Elizabeths immediate successors, James I and Charles I, until the closure of public...

Kyd languished in obscurity until 1773 when Thomas Hawkins, an early editor of the play, discovered that he was named as its author by Thomas Heywood in his Apologie for Actors. A hundred years later, scholars in Germany and England began to shed light on his life and work, including the controversial finding that he may have been the author of the original Hamlet play. 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Thomas Heywood (died about 1650) was an English dramatist and miscellaneous author. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline. ... Ur-Hamlet was the name given by nineteenth century German scholars to a pre-Shakespearean Hamlet written before 1589. ...

Early life

Thomas Kyd was the son of Francis and Anna Kyd and was baptized in the church of St Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, London on November 6, 1558. The baptismal register carries the entry: "Thomas, son of Francis Kidd, Citizen and Writer of the Courte Letter of London". Francis Kyd was a scrivener and in 1580 was warden of the Scriveners' Company. Exterior of St Mary Woolnoth St Mary Woolnoth is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on Lombard Street near the Bank of England. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... Events January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ... The Worshipful Company of Scriveners of the City of London is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ...

In October 1565 Kyd was enrolled in the newly-founded Merchant Taylors' School, whose headmaster was Richard Mulcaster. Fellow students included Edmund Spenser and Thomas Lodge. Here, Kyd received a well-rounded education, thanks to Mulcaster's progressive ideas. Apart from Latin and Greek, the curriculum included music, drama, physical education, and "good manners". There is no evidence that Kyd went on to either of the universities. He may have followed for a time his father's profession; two letters written by him are extant and his handwriting suggests the training of a scrivener. Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded April 27 - Cebu City is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. ... Merchant Taylors crest Merchant Taylors School is a British public school, located in Northwood in the London Borough of Hillingdon. ... Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. ... Thomas Lodge (c. ...

Career

Title page of Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, with a woodcut showing (left) the hung body of Horatio discovered by (center) Hieronymo and Bel-Imperia being taken from the scene by a blackface Lorenzo (right).

Evidence suggests that in the 1580s Kyd became an important playwright, but little is known about his activity. Francis Meres placed him among "our best for tragedy" and Heywood elsewhere called him "Famous Kyd". Ben Jonson mentions Kyd in the same breath as Christopher Marlowe and John Lyly in the Shakespeare First Folio. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (841x1330, 1123 KB)Woodcut and title page from File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (841x1330, 1123 KB)Woodcut and title page from File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Francis Meres (1565 - January 29, 1647), was an English churchman and author. ... Benjamin Jonson (June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... An anonymous portrait, often believed to show Christopher Marlowe Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (baptised February 26, 1564 – May 30, 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. ... John Lyly (Lilly or Lylie) (c. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ...

The Spanish Tragedie was probably written in the mid to late 1580s. The earliest surviving edition was printed in 1592; the full title being, The Spanish Tragedie, Containing the lamentable end of Don Horatio, and Bel-imperia: with the pittifull death of olde Hieronimo. However, the play was usually known simply as "Hieronimo", after the protagonist. It was the most popular play of the "Age of Shakespeare" and set new standards in effective plot construction and character development. In 1602 a version of the play with "additions" was published. Philip Henslowe's diary records payment to Ben Jonson for these, though his revision of the play may have been more extensive. It is probable that the printer merely inserted fragmentary new passages into the old text. Events January 30 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. ... The protagonist is the central figure of a story, and is often referred to as a storys main character. ... // Plot in literature, theater, movies According to Aristotles Poetics, a plot in literature is the arrangement of incidents that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other. ... This page is about the year. ... Philip Henslowe (c 1550 - January 6, 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur. ... Benjamin Jonson (June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... The word printer is used to describe a company that provides commercial printing services, involving typesetting, printing and book-binding. ...

Other works by Kyd are his translations of Torquato Tasso's Padre di Famiglia, published as The Householder's Philosophy (1588); and Robert Garnier's Cornelia (1594). Plays attributed in whole or in part to Kyd include Soliman and Perseda, King Leir and Arden of Feversham. A burlesque of The Spanish Tragedy called The First Part of Jeronimo is almost certainly not his. However, it's widely accepted that Kyd was the author of a Hamlet, the precursor of the Shakespearean play (see: Ur-Hamlet). Some poems by Kyd exist, but it seems that most of his work is lost or unidentified. Torquato Tasso (March 11, 1544 – April 25, 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered; 1575), in which he describes the imaginary combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem. ... 1588 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Robert Garnier (c. ... Events February 27 - Henry IV is crowned King of France at Rheims. ... King Leir is an anonymous Elizabethan play published in 1605 but believed to have been written before 1594. ... Ur-Hamlet was the name given by nineteenth century German scholars to a pre-Shakespearean Hamlet written before 1589. ...

The success of Kyd's plays extended to Europe. Versions of The Spanish Tragedy and his Hamlet were popular in Germany and the Netherlands for generations. The influence of these plays on European drama was largely the reason for the interest in Kyd among German scholars in the nineteenth century. World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

Later life

About 1587 Kyd entered the service of a noble, possibly Ferdinando Stanley Lord Strange, who sponsored a company of actors. He may have worked as a secretary but it's not certain if he continued to write plays. At some time around 1591 Christopher Marlowe also joined this patron's service, we know this from the events of May 1593. 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... An anonymous portrait, often believed to show Christopher Marlowe Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (baptised February 26, 1564 – May 30, 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. ...

On May 11, 1593 the Privy Council ordered the arrest of the authors of "divers lewd and mutinous libels" which had been posted around London. The next day, Kyd was among those arrested; he would later believe, quite plausibly, that he had been the victim of an informer. His lodgings were searched and instead of evidence of the "libels" there was found an Arianist tract. A note written by an investigator describes the document as "vile heretical conceits denying the deity of Jesus Christ our Saviour found amongst the papers of Thos Kydd, prisoner". Beneath, in different ink, is written, "which he affirmeth he had from Marlowe". It's believed that Kyd was tortured to obtain this information. Marlowe was questioned by the Privy Council and, while waiting for a decision on his case, was killed in an incident involving known government agents. May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... Events May 18 - Playwright Thomas Kyds accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. ... A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, especially in a monarchy. ... Arianism was a Christological view held by followers of Arius in the early Christian Church, claiming that Jesus Christ and God the Father were not always contemporary, seeing the Son as a divine being, created by the Father (and consequently inferior to Him) at some point in time, before which...

Kyd was released towards the end of May but was not accepted back into the service of his lord. Believing he was under suspicion of atheism himself, he wrote to the Lord Keeper, Sir John Puckering, protesting his innocence. Apart from referring to his "pains and undeserved tortures", he again denies ownership of the heretical document: "When I was first suspected for that libel that concerned the state, amongst those waste and idle papers (which I cared not for) and which unasked I did deliver up, were found some fragments of a disputation touching that opinion, affirmed by Marlowe to be his, and shuffled with some of mine unknown to me by some occasion of our writing in one chamber two years since." The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. ... Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ...

Kyd's efforts to clear his name were apparently fruitless. The last we hear from the playwright is the publication of Cornelia early in 1594. In the dedication to the Countess of Sussex he describes the "bitter times and privy broken passions" he had endured. Kyd died later that year. In December 1594, his mother legally renounced the administration of his estate, which was debt-ridden.

References

• Philip Edwards, The Spanish Tragedy Methuen, 1959, reprinted 1974 ISBN 0416279201
• Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe, Vintage, 2002 (revised edition) ISBN 0099437473 (especially for the circumstances surrounding Kyd's arrest)

External links

• The Spanish Tragedie Full text of the play
• Text of Kyd's letter to Puckering
• Thomas Kyd and The Spanish Tragedy (University of West Alabama)
• Perverse justice in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, by John Nettles (University of Georgia)