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What accusations of religious unorthodoxy were made against Christopher Marlowe?
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Christopher Marlowe
Detail of a portrait thought to be of Christopher Marlowe, dated 1585, artist unknown; in the collection of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, England.
Christopher Marlowe faced serious accusations of religious unorthodoxy and atheism during his lifetime, which in Elizabethan England could range from holding unconventional religious views to the explicit rejection of God.1
Key allegations against him included:
- Denial of Divinity: Contemporaries, including the spy Richard Baines and playwright Thomas Kyd, accused Marlowe of blasphemy and specifically alleged that he denied the deity of Jesus Christ.1
- Atheistic Statements: In his deathbed tract, Robert Greene reproved Marlowe for claiming that "There is no god" and for studying "pestilent Machiuilian pollicie".1
- Evidence of Unorthodoxy: Kyd alleged that papers found in a room he had previously shared with Marlowe contained material denying the deity of Christ, attributing these documents to the poet.1
These accusations were severe enough that the Privy Council issued an order for Marloweās arrest in May 1593, shortly before his death.1