Thomas Kyd

Thomas Kyd

Thomas Kyd was an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.

Although well known in his own time, Kyd fell into obscurity until 1773 when Thomas Hawkins, an early editor of The Spanish Tragedy, discovered that Kyd was named as its author by Thomas Heywood in his Apologie for Actors (1612). A hundred years later, scholars in Germany and England began to shed light on his life and work, including the controversial finding that he may have been the author of a Hamlet play pre-dating Shakespeare's, which is now known as the Ur-Hamlet.

Works:

The dates of composition are approximate.

• Don Horatio (partially extant in The First Part of Hieronimo, c. 1586)
• The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587)
• The Householder's Philosophy (translation, 1588)
• The Murder of John Brewen (pamphlet, 1592)
• Arden of Faversham (attributed, 1592)
• Edward III (attributed, c. 1592)
• Soliman and Perseda (attributed, c. 1593)
• Cornelia (translation, 1594)
• King Leir (attributed, 1594)