Editing Christopher Marlowe (section)

===Plays===
Six dramas have been attributed to the authorship of Christopher Marlowe either alone or in collaboration with other writers, with varying degrees of evidence. The writing sequence or chronology of these plays is mostly unknown and is offered here with any dates and evidence known. Among the little available information we have, ''Dido'' is believed to be the first Marlowe play performed, while it was ''Tamburlaine'' that was first to be performed on a regular commercial stage in London in 1587. Believed by many scholars to be Marlowe's greatest success, ''Tamburlaine'' was the first English play written in [[blank verse]] and, with [[Thomas Kyd]]'s ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'', is generally considered the beginning of the mature phase of the [[Elizabethan theatre]].<ref name=":N">{{cite web|title=The Sixteenth Century: Topics |url=http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/16century/topic_1/welcome.htm |postscript=. See especially the middle section in which the author shows how another Cambridge graduate, Thomas Preston makes his title character express his love in a popular play written around 1560 and compares that "clumsy" line with ''Doctor Faustus'' addressing Helen of Troy |work=The Norton Anthology of English Literature |publisher=W.W. Norton and Company |access-date=10 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010193423/http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/16century/topic_1/welcome.htm |archive-date=10 October 2011 |url-status=deviated}}</ref>

The play ''[[Lust's Dominion]]'' was attributed to Marlowe upon its initial publication in 1657, though scholars and critics have almost unanimously rejected the attribution. He may also have written or co-written ''[[Arden of Faversham]]''.

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|Description = [[Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby]], aka "Ferdinando, Lord Straunge," was patron of some of Marlowe's early plays as performed by [[Lord Strange's Men]].
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