ABSTRACT

William Lambarde’s view of the decadence of Canterbury was shared by John Bale, shortly after his appointment as a prebendary of the Cathedral, deplored the popular ceremonies and superstitious observances which persisted in the City after the Elizabethan church settlement. To the Elizabethan Protestant antiquary, William Lambarde, the former centres of pilgrimage like Canterbury and Walsingham were no better than the Cities of Plain. Some of Bale’s satirical interludes attacking the friars were acted by the pupils early in Elizabeth’s reign. Not long settled in London, Christopher Marlowe rank in society uncertain, Marlowe was patently no longer destined for the church, but as one of the university wits even a craftsman’s son, a ‘studious artizan’, was entitled to the suffix ‘gent.’ Marlowe left Canterbury for the University of Cambridge in December 1580 and on 7 May 1581, according to the Registrum Parvum of Corpus Christi College, he was elected and admitted in place of Christopher Pashley, from Canterbury School.