FOUR hundred years ago, a coroner concluded that Christopher Marlowe died in a brawl over a tavern bill. New research suggests that the man who murdered the Elizabethan playwright and poet received substantially more rewards than had previously been thought.

Park Honan, a scholar and biographer, has unearthed a “crucial” document that reveals that the murderer, Ingram Frizer — a known conman who received a royal pardon just a month after stabbing the poet — was later rewarded with extensive property.

Marlowe (1564-93), who penned masterpieces including The Tragical History of Dr Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great and who rivalled Shakespeare as the most powerful dramatist of the Elizabethan period, was aged 29 when he died.

The killing, in a Deptford rooming-house set against a world of thugs, informers and agents provocateurs, has been the subject of endless speculation over the centuries.

Some have suggested that Marlowe was punished for his atheist beliefs, others have been guided by the coroner’s conclusions — that the poet was killed in a drunken fight.

Frizer, an unsavoury character with links to a thug who had been in and out of jail, was the servant of Thomas Walsingham, Marlowe’s patron.

Professor Honan, Emeritus Professor at the School of English, University of Leeds, points the finger at Walsingham, who needed to rid himself of any association with the poet.

As a suspected atheist, Marlowe had become a danger to Walsingham’s standing in the royal court, he said.

“Early in the year, Parliament had ensured that heresy was akin to treason. Dissidents were being hanged. The royal court was unlikely to reward any sponsor of heretics. How could the law tolerate atheism or the Queen continue to favour Walsingham as the patron of a heretic if, in law, all heresy was treasonous? As patron of a so-called atheist, Walsingham risked damaging his own reputation,” he said.

Walsingham was politically attuned at a time when England was at war, he said. Questions about an ageing Eliza- beth I, the succession problem, and the conundrum of James VI of Scotland were in the air.

Walsingham used his contacts in the secret service and his cousin, the late Sir Francis, the Secretary of State, to appear devoted to Elizabeth I — while doing all that he could for James of Scotland.

Professor Honan said: “Such duplicity was to bring manors and new wealth to the Walsinghams and rewards to Frizer as soon as James came to England’s throne. Thomas knew that if James VI acceded, those who had supported him would be rewarded.”

Frizer was one of three unsavoury characters associated with Walsingham and who were at the murder scene.

Professor Honan — whose research is published by Oxford University Press in Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy on October 27 — believes that the document unearthed in the archives of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, in Leeds, shows that Marlowe was killed for financial reasons. The document records that James gave land to Walsingham’s wife, who leased it to Frizier.

Professor Honan said: “It had been known that Frizer had received money before, but not in such a large amount. He enjoyed prosperity as Thomas rose in the court. He later became business agent of Walsingham’s wife and enjoyed even greater prosperity.”

Charles Nicholl, a noted scholar, said of Professor Honan: “Anything he says about Marlowe should be viewed with a great deal of interest.”

DRAMATIC ENDINGS

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