On February 26, 1564, the English playwright, poet and translator, Christopher Marlowe was born.  Before his death on May 30, 1593, Marlowe had become the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day.  It is touted that he was a great inspiration to William Shakespeare who was born in the same year.

There is a belief that Marlowe was arrested for suspected blasphemy on May 18, 1593 for having heretical concepts within a manuscript he was preparing.  Ten days later, he as stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer.  No one knows if his killing was related to his arrest.

Edward II is one of the earliest English history plays having been written in the Renaissance era as it was.  Marlowe, like Shakespeare, found much of his material from Holinshed’s Chronicles, published in 1587.

You may read Marlowe’s Edward II, Act V here:

http://www.bartleby.com/46/1/52.html

Alternatively, you may listen to this in its audiobook format here: