Fencing History and Tales
Introduction | Literary Allusions | Famous Duels and Duellists | Women and CombatFamous Duels and Duellists
Christopher Marlowe (1564 -1593)
The Death of William Bradley (September 18, 1589)
"He and a fellow poet were arrested in 1589 after a clash
in which an actor was killed, though their plea of self-defence was accepted."
~V.G. Kiernan's The Duel in European History published in 1988
by Oxford University Press
"There is plenty of independent evidence that Marlowe
was as quick on the draw as any other young Elizabethan. In 1589 he was
imprisoned after a swordfight in Shoreditch which resulted in the death
of Wiliam Bradley, an innkeeper's son."
~Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
published in 1992 by the University of Chicago Press
"On Hog Lane between two and three o'clock on the afternoon of 18 September 1589, Marlowe was fighting with an innkeeper's son named William Bradley. It is not stated who started the fight, not what weapons were being used. It may have been a deadly duel, or it may have been little more than a scuffle after an alcoholic lunch. As they fought, the people in the street raised a 'clamour'. Thomas Watson now appeared on the scene. Seeing the two men fighting, he drew his sword and intervened. He later claimed that he did so to 'seperate them' and to 'preserve the Queen's peace'. At this point Marlowe drew back and took no further part in the fight.
Bradley turned to Watson. He saw him with sword drawn. "Art thou now come?' he shouted. 'Then I will have a bout with thee!'
Instantly he 'leapt upon' Watson and 'then and there, with
a sword and dagger of iron and steel, he struck, wounded, and maltreated
said Thomas Watson so that there was fear for his life.' Watson defended
himself, but was driven back and retreated as far as the ditch that ran
along the roadside. Still Bradley came at him. Watson, unable to retreat
any further, then struck Bradley with his sword. The point of the sword
penetrated six inches into the right side of Bradley's chest. From this
wound, William Bradley 'then and there instantly died'."
~Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
published in 1992 by the University of Chicago Pres
Other Accounts and Notes about Marlowe's life
"In 1592, again in Shoreditch, he was bound over to 'keep the peace'.
A few months later, on a street corner in Cantebury, he fought a tailor
named Corkine 'with a staff and dagger'.
~Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
published in 1992 by the University of Chicago Pres
Christopher Marlowe was later killed in Deptford under questionable circumstances.
His unfinished poem Hero and Leander was published in 1598 by Edward Blount, the same Blount that published George Silver's Paradoxes of Defense in 1599.
The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by
Charles Nicholl is an excellent book detailing the Elizabethan Period
and the mysterious death of Christopher Marlowe.
The
Reckoning on Amazon.com
