The playwright John Marston was born near Wardington in Oxfordshire in 1576. His father, John Marston, was a prosperous Middle Temple lawyer, who owned land in Coventry, where Marston was probably raised. Marston's mother was Maria Guarsi, the granddaughter of the Italian born Balthazar Guarsi, who had been surgeon to Katherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. Marston was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1592, and graduated with a B.A. in 1594. He moved to London in 1595 and took up residence in the Middle Temple under the pretence of studying law. Middle Temple itself was part of the Inns of Court, which functioned as England's third university in this period. While organized as an institution of legal training, the Inns of Court provided a finishing school for the social elite; a…
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Citation: Stymeist, David. "John Marston". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4987, accessed 25 April 2024.]
