The great friend and grand rival of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson was the quintessential Londoner. University educated, Jonson was much a man of the ivory tower as of the streets, taverns, and theaters; a comedic dramatist, lyric poet, and literary critic among the most enduring of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras of the English Renaissance. His reputation among the dramatists and poets of his day is second only to the towering figure of his contemporary, professional rival, and close friend William Shakespeare.

Jonson’s father died just before he came into the world on June 11th, 1572. His mother remarried a bricklayer, and despite their poverty. Jonson was able to attend school for a short while, at least until his help was needed supporting the family. After working alongside his step-father, he served as a volunteer in the Dutch War against Spain. Following his return in 1592, Jonson began acting and writing plays; he was immersed in the life of the London stage, through and through. While he earned initial recognition for his talents as an actor he did not become widely acknowledged as playwright until 1598 when his great comedy, Every Man in his Humour, was presented by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the company to which Shakespeare belonged as a fellow actor and playwright.

The same year Every Man in his Humour was presented, Jonson was nearly executed for killing a fellow actor and playwright, Gabriel Spenser, in a duel. Talk about drama. He escaped being hanged because he was an educated man who could read the Latin bible and therefore could claim “benefit of the clergy.” While in prison he converted to Catholicism which also got him into trouble with the English government who questioned his lack of participation in the Anglican church.

After his bout of legal trouble Jonson began to build his reputation and made connections within the court of King James I. Jonson spent time with his patrons, writing a few of his most memorable comedic plays, including The Alchemist and Volpone or the Foxe. In 1616, the year his friend and colleague William Shakespeare crossed the shining river, Jonson published Workes, making him the first English playwright to esteem his plays as literary “works” on the order of great poems. For this seemingly presumptuous but ultimately crucial decision, Jonson received derision and harsh ridicule. Nevertheless, Jonson continued to enjoy great success and enduring patronage.

The end of Jonson’s life was filled with a series of unfortunate events. His personal library burned down in 1623, a tragic enough event for any author. When King James I died in 1625, Jonson’s influence in court rapidly dwindled. His work, previously lauded, proved unsatisfactory within the court of Charles I and this lack of success forced him into an early retirement. In 1628, Jonson suffered several strokes that left him bedridden but when he died in 1637 he was given the great honor of a burial at Westminster Abbey.