John WebsterJohn Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist who lived around 1578 and died around 1632. His tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are often thought of as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He lived and worked at thesame time as Shakespeare. Webster's life is hard to understand, and no one knows when he was born or when he died. His father, also named John Webster, made carriages. On November 4, 1577, he married Elizabeth Coates, the daughter of a blacksmith. It is likely that Webster was born soon after, in or near London. The family lived in the parish of St. Sepulchre. His father, John, and uncle, Edward, were both Freemen of the Merchant Taylors' Company. Webster went to Merchant Taylors' School in London's Suffolk Lane. On August 1, 1598, "John Webster, formerly of the New Inn," was admitted to the Middle Temple, which was one of the Inns of Court. His plays show that he was interested in law, so he may be the playwright. In the mid-1620s, Webster was still writing plays, but Thomas Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels talks about him in the past tense, which suggests he was dead at that time. Read More Read Less