Thomas Middleton (1580 – July 1627) was an English
Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with
John Fletcher and
Ben Jonson among the most successful and prolific playwrights who wrote their best plays during the
Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in comedy and
tragedy. Also a prolific writer of
masques and
pageants, he remains one of the most notable and distinctive of Jacobean dramatists.