Thomas Kyd

Thomas Kyd was baptised in 1558, the son of a London scrivener, and was a pupil at a school run by a renowned humanist. He wrote the play that enjoyed the greatest success of its time, without his name appearing on any edition during his lifetime. Arrested in 1593, he had his papers searched and stated, probably under torture, that heretical papers belonged to Christopher Marlowe, with whom he had shared a room two years earlier. Kyd died the following year, aged thirty-five; his mother refused his estate, probably burdened with debts.

In the catalogue 1

• TheatreThe Spanish TragedyThomas Kyd · 1587Literature