Christopher Marlowe, (1564 –1593)

Atheism 
Marlowe was reputed to be an atheist or a Catholic. Some modern historians consider that this may have 
been a cover for his work as a government spy. Marlowe's accuser in Flushing was an informer called 
Richard Baines. Following Marlowe's arrest in 1593, Baines gave the authorities a "note containing the 
opinion of one Christopher Marly concerning his damnable judgment of religion, and scorn of God's word." 
Another document claims that "one Marlowe is able to show more sound reasons for Atheism than any 
divine in England is able to give to prove divinity, [...] he hath read the Atheist lecture to Sir Walter Raleigh 
and others." Similar examples were given by Thomas Kyd after his imprisonment and possible torture. 
Kyd and Baines connect Marlowe with the mathematician Thomas Harriot and Walter Raleigh's circle. “The 
School of Night” is a modern name for a group of men centred on Sir Walter Raleigh that was referred to in 
1592 as the "School of Atheism." The group supposedly included poets and scientists such as Christopher 
Marlowe, George Chapman and Thomas Harriot. The name "The School of Night" derives from Act IV, scene 
III of Shakespeare's 
Love's Labour's Lost
: (Cf. Arthur Acheson. 
Shakespeare and the rival Poet
(1903)).
Marlowe’s death 

---

3