The English dramatist Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) is best known for "The Spanish Tragedy," a play that was a great popular success and did much to influence the course of English tragedy of the late Renaissance.

Thomas Kyd was the son of Francis Kyd, a scrivener, or professional scribe, of London. He received his education at the Merchant Taylors' School, a well-respected, fairly progressive school attended by sons of middle-class citizens of London.

Kyd probably began his career as a popular playwright about 1583 and produced his most significant work, The Spanish Tragedy, sometime between this date and 1589. Although somewhat crude both dramatically and poetically, this extremely popular play did much to shape the greater tragedies of the later Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. It is the earliest example in English of the "revenge play," or "tragedy of blood," which was later developed and refined by such dramatists as Shakespeare, George...