[2] An earlier version of the story Tamburlaine was written by Christopher Marlowe during the Elizabethan era with a very different focus in the context of the English Renaissance.
Betterton spoke the prologue and the play was dedicated to the Whig politician Lord Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire.
[5] Rowe's play was partly framed as a riposte to the Tory-supporting work about Timur The Generous Conqueror by Bevil Higgons, which endorsed direct hereditary monarchy.
In politically-charged Dublin the play was performed in November 1712 with a controversial prologue by Samuel Garth, despite a ban by the Irish Council, and provoked a riot.
[11] After its absence in London, it was then revived following the Hanoverian Succession alongside Jane Grey, another new pro-Whig play by Rowe.