1564-93
Christopher Marlowe was the author of several plays, including Faustus and The Jew of Malta. But Edward II dealt specifically with a gay relationship and subsequent murder.
Marlowe was himself murdered in mysterious circumstances at the tender age of 29, having probably fallen foul of the authorities. The man who stabbed him fatally above the right eye was pardoned. Accusations of atheism, blasphemy, subversion and homosexuality surrounded him. Marlowe was said to have stated: “St John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned always in his bosom, that he used him as the sinners of Sodoma,” and “That all they that love not Tobacco & Boies were fooles”. He had good connections and was rumoured to be a spy.