A Few Facts About Mr. Marlowe:
Name -- since spelling was not yet standardized in Elizabethan England his name also appears in various records as "Marlin", "Merlin", "Marlyn", "Marlen", "Marley", and "Malyn". His popular nickname was "Kit", but he also called himself "mercury" (after the messenger to the gods in Roman mythology).
Birth -- officially unknown, but sometimes given as February 6th, 1564. He was baptized February 26th, 1564 at St. George's Church, Canterbury.
Death -- Wednesday, May 30th, 1593. Killed by Ingram Frizer during a fight at a meeting house in Deptford. As reported in the coroner's report, he attacked Frizer (who was unarmed) and in the ensuing struggle was accidentally struck in the brow by his own dagger. He was 29 years old.
Legacy -- with his earliest play, Marlowe entered history as the first major English dramatist to use blank verse and reveal its potential as one of the most effective, poetic forms in theatre. From then onwards, blank verse quickly became the standard dramatic form for the entire renaissance period. Centuries later, Swinburne commented that Marlowe is "the greatest discoverer, the most daring and inspired pioneer, in all our poetic literature. Before him there was neither genuine blank verse nor a genuine tragedy in our language".