Ben Jonson is believed to have been born in 1573, in or around Westminster. His father died just before he was born, and his mother married a bricklayer while Jonson was still a boy. He attended Westminster school, where he studied under William Camden (Richardson 106). He was taken out of this school to begin an apprenticeship in his stepfather’s trade. At twenty-one, Jonson married Anne Lewis, a woman from whom he would separate eight years later, but never actually divorce (Rudrum 146). During their time together, the couple would produce two children. Their young daughter would only live for six months, and their son for seven years. Jonson hated his apprenticeship and soon turned to the stage. He found a position with the Admiral’s Men. As a playwright, Jonson was constantly in trouble with the law. The first time that he was jailed was for his part in a now-lost play called "The Isle of Dogs." In 1598, he was sent to prison for killing an actor named Gabriel Spencer in a duel. He pleaded "Benefit of Clergy" in court, a right that gave any man who could read and write Latin the ability to avoid the death penalty (Richardson 108). He escaped with only a branded thumb and the loss of his belongings. Five years later, Jonson was once again in trouble with the law. Although he was not imprisoned, he was accused of "popery and treason" for scenes in his new play Sejanus, his Fall. When Eastward Ho! was completed in 1604, with Marston and Chapman as collaborators, Jonson went to jail with these two men for their satire on the Scottish courtiers who had travelled to England with James I (James VI of Scotland). On 5 November 1605, the Gunpowder Plot against the King was discovered. Jonson was under suspicion because of his ties to Catholicism, but remained close to the court throughout the decade, producing masques for James I. During these years, and up until 1612, Jonson worked with the designer Inigo Jones on Court Masques. Jonson’s religion was always in question. When he was in jail for killing Spencer, it is said he converted to Catholicism (Rudrum 146). In 1606, he was charged for refusing to take Anglican communion. In 1608, for unknown reasons, Jonson returned to the Anglican Church. In 1612 he went to France, as tutor to the son of Sir Walter Raleigh. The year 1616 was perhaps the most important in the life of Ben Jonson. He collected his plays and published them in a folio edition entitled Workes. Unlike Shakespeare or other playwrights of the time, Jonson considered his scripts to be literary texts. His compilation set the stage for Shakespeare’s plays to be published in folio in 1623, and showed the importance of playwriting to his contemporaries. In this same year, Jonson was made Poet Laureate by King James I, for which he received a generous pension. The conversations that he had with William Drummond while on a trip to Scotland in 1618 survive, and are a good record of Jonson’s opinions on his time. Upon returning from his travels, Jonson received an honorary doctorate from Oxford, followed shortly thereafter by the same distinction from Cambridge. In 1625, with the death of James I, Jonson fell out of favour at court. Despite the new King not liking Jonson as his father had, Jonson became the city chronologer of London in 1628. This year, however, was not kind to Jonson, for he suffered a stroke that partially paralyzed him for the rest of his life. On 6 August 1637 Jonson died. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, under a small square plaque that reads "O Rare Ben Jonson." Because of the limited space available for his burial site, Jonson was buried standing up. Originally in the nave, this plaque has since been moved to "Poet’s Corner." -- Kimberley Martin, 2002