Thomas Kyd's Arrest Implicates Marlowe in Heresy Allegations
Poet involved
What happened
Playwright Thomas Kyd, a former associate of Marlowe's who had shared lodgings with him in London, was arrested and interrogated, reportedly under torture, after heretical papers were found among his belongings. Kyd claimed the documents belonged to Marlowe, implicating him in charges of atheism and blasphemy just weeks before Marlowe's death.
Literary impact
The accusations placed Marlowe under direct threat of prosecution for heresy, a capital offense, and cast a shadow of scandal and danger over the final weeks of his life that has colored critical interpretation of his work ever since. The episode fueled the enduring association between Marlowe's plays and subversive, freethinking ideas.
Source: Wikipedia
