Bryan Appleyard
But Why did his Buttery Bills Suddenly Increase?
The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
By Charles Nicholl
Johnathan Cape 336pp £16.99 order from our bookshop
Christopher Marlowe died on the evening of 30th May 1593. He had been stabbed to a depth of two inches just above the right eyeball and had succumbed to either an embolism or a brain haemorrhage. The incident took place in a respectable lodging house in Deptford belonging to the widow Eleanor Bull. Three other men were present of whom one, Ingram Frizer, struck the fatal blow.
These bare facts are as certain as anything can be after 400 years. They were accepted immediately afterwards by the coroner and there appears to be no good reason to doubt them. But the coroner also accepted the evidence of Frizer and the two witnesses that he acted in self-defence. Marlowe had struck first, he had died in the ensuing fight.
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