Curated playlist
16th-century English male writers
- William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare called himself in "perfect health" in his will, then died within a month.
- Henry VIIIHenry VIII broke England from Rome after the pope would not annul his first marriage.
- George Wyatt (writer)George Wyatt was born just as his father was being led to the scaffold. His father had led a failed rebellion.
- Ben JonsonBen Jonson killed a man in a duel and escaped hanging by reciting a Bible verse.
- Simon FishSimon Fish died of plague in 1531 before he could be tried for heresy. His sixteen-page pamphlet outlived him.
- William Forrest (poet)Priest William Forrest wrote a long poem defending Catherine of Aragon. He gave it to Queen Mary in 1558.
- Christopher MarloweQueen Elizabeth's Privy Council once wrote to Cambridge to make sure Christopher Marlowe got his degree.
- Michael DraytonMichael Drayton's first book, published in 1590, was almost entirely destroyed by public order.
- Thomas MoreThomas More taught his daughters Greek when almost no one did. He also approved burning heretics.
- John FoxeJohn Foxe wrote a bestseller in 1563 and stayed as poor as ever. Publishing paid authors no royalties then.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Edmund SpenserWhen poet Edmund Spenser was buried in 1599, fellow poets threw pens and their own poems into his grave.
- Raphael HolinshedRaphael Holinshed is the man Shakespeare read, yet almost nothing else is known about him.
- Robert Greene (dramatist)Most scholars agree a pamphlet attributed to Robert Greene mocked Shakespeare as an 'upstart Crow'.
- Thomas KydThomas Kyd may have written the most popular play of Shakespeare's age, yet people nearly forgot him.
- William CamdenIn 2023, imaging revealed passages William Camden had covered up in his history of Elizabeth.
- George Cavendish (writer)For centuries, scholars credited the wrong Cavendish with a famous biography of Cardinal Wolsey.
- Philip SidneyPhilip Sidney died at 31 from a thigh wound, leaving a romance that stops mid sword fight.
- John FisherBishop John Fisher kept a human skull beside his plate at every meal. Henry VIII later had him beheaded in 1535.
- Thomas Wyatt (poet)Poet Thomas Wyatt's sonnets were not printed under his name until 1557. That was fifteen years after he died.
- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was buried in an unmarked grave in 1604. Some still say he wrote Shakespeare's plays.
- Henry WottonHenry Wotton's joke that an ambassador lies abroad nearly wrecked his career.
- Thomas NasheThomas Nashe co-wrote a play so scandalous that his partner Ben Jonson went to jail.
- John HemingesShakespeare's fellow actor John Heminges was formally a grocer. He also managed the theater and edited the First Folio.