--- description: Oxford University Press' new edition of William Shakespeare's work will have the 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe as co-credit title: Oxford Is Adding a Co-Credit to Some of William Shakespeare's Plays image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt103ddd6f1c410cc4/6988ab4efb4eac2d3788f997/christopher-marlow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Oxford Is Adding a Co-Credit to Some of William Shakespeare's Plays by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 24, 2016 4:29 PM CUT  English dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), 1585. English dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), 1585.Keystone—Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 24, 2016 4:29 PM CUT Oxford University Press’ new edition of William Shakespeare’s work will have the 16th-century [playwright](http://time.com/3584611/write-better-tips-from-harvard/ "undefined") Christopher Marlowe co-credit three of Shakespeare’s plays. The decision comes after a team of 23 academics used software to analyze texts as they questioned whether Britain’s most-famous bard had collaborated with other writers. Three Henry VI plays as well as up to 17 plays are now believed to contain writing by other people, doubling the figure in the previous Oxford Shakespeare anthology, [the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/23/christopher-marlowe-credited-as-one-of-shakespeares-co-writers "undefined") reports. “The orthodox view was that Shakespeare didn’t collaborate at all. When the Oxford Shakespeare in 1986 proposed that eight plays of Shakespeare contained writing by other writers, some people were outraged” Gary Taylor, a Florida State University English professor who was one of the scholars researching the matter, told the newspaper. “What has happened since 1986 is that the accumulation of new scholarship, techniques and resources has made it clear that, in 1986, we underestimated the amount of Shakespeare’s work that’s collaborative.” Marlowe’s influence in sections of Henry VI plays have been suspected since the 18th century, with some going as far as suggesting Marlowe was, in fact, Shakespeare himself (a widely dismissed claim). “We can now be confident that they didn’t just influence each other, but they worked with each other. Rivals sometimes collaborate” Taylor said. \[[_Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/23/christopher-marlowe-credited-as-one-of-shakespeares-co-writers "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542621/oxford-christopher-marlowe-william-shakespeare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542621/oxford-christopher-marlowe-william-shakespeare/"},"headline":"Oxford Is Adding a Co-Credit to Some of William Shakespeare's Plays","datePublished":"2016-10-24T16:29:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:22:42.129Z","description":"Christopher Marlowe will be credited for three Henry VI plays","url":"https://time.com/4542621/oxford-christopher-marlowe-william-shakespeare/","keywords":["Theater","United Kingdom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt103ddd6f1c410cc4/6988ab4efb4eac2d3788f997/christopher-marlow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt103ddd6f1c410cc4/6988ab4efb4eac2d3788f997/christopher-marlow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christopher Marlowe","caption":"Christopher Marlowe","creditText":"Keystone—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4542621/oxford-christopher-marlowe-william-shakespeare/","name":"Oxford Is Adding a Co-Credit to Some of William Shakespeare's Plays"}}]}] ```