Scholars say Shakespeare was main author of Edward III, with Marlowe as collaborator
Researchers have concluded beyond any reasonable doubt that William Shakespeare was the principal writer of the play Edward III, with Christopher Marlowe as his collaborator. The Guardian
The play was published anonymously in 1596. It did not appear in the 1623 First Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays.
The conclusion comes from computerised linguistic analysis comparing the play with securely attributed works by 10 dramatists active between the late 1580s and mid-1590s. The study looked at linguistic features including the distribution of marker words such as 'martial' typical of Marlowe's plays. In one test, 23 segments of Edward III were identified as written by Shakespeare and nine segments as written by Marlowe.
The study was co-authored by Rory Loughnane and Brett Greatley-Hirsch. Loughnane is a reader in early modern studies at the University of Kent and general editor of the Oxford Marlowe editorial project. Greatley-Hirsch is a professor of renaissance literature and textual studies at the University of Leeds.
The researchers date the Shakespeare-Marlowe collaboration on Edward III to 1592. Marlowe died aged 29 in 1593 after a brawl in a lodging house.
Loughnane edited Edward III for the 2016 New Oxford Shakespeare: Complete Works. A 2016 study found Marlowe was a co-author of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays, which have since been credited to both writers.
