Anthony Munday (or Monday) (c. 1553 – August 10, 1633), was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer.
He is thought to have been born in 1553, since the monument to him in the Church of St Stephen, Coleman Street, states, that at the time of his death, he was eighty years old. From the inscription we likewise learn that he was "a citizen and draper." In 1589 he was living in the city, and dates his translation of "The History of Palmendos" "from my house in Cripplegate". That he carried on the business of a draper, or had some connection with the trade as late as 1613, may be gathered from the following passage at the close of "The Triumphs of Truth," the city pageant for that year, by Thomas Middleton: "The fire-work being made by Maister Humphrey Nichols, a man excellent in his art; and the whole work and body of the Triumph, with all the proper beauties of the workmanship, most artfully and faithfully performed by John Grinkin; and those furnished with apparel and porters by Anthony Munday, Gentleman." The style of "gentleman" was probably given to him with reference to the productions of his pen.
In 1578-1579, he became an actor, a member of the Earl of Oxford's company between 1579 and 1584. In a Catholic tract entitled A True Reporte of the death of M. Campion (1581), Munday is accused of having deceived his master Allde, a charge which he refuted by publishing Allde's signed declaration to the contrary, and he is also said to have been hissed off the stage. Whatever might have been Munday's previous life, in 1582 he was placed in an unenviable position. He had been instrumental in detecting the Popish Conspiracy in that year, which aroused the bitter animosity of the Jesuits.
About this time he wrote five anti-popish pamphlets, among them the savage and bigoted tract entitled A Discoverie of Edmund Campion and his Confederates--whereto is added the execution of Edmund Campion, Raphe Shenvin, and Alexander Brian, the first part of which was read aloud from the scaffold at Campion's death in December 1581.
His political services against the Catholics were rewarded in 1584 by the post of messenger to her Majesty's chamber, and from this time he seems to have given up acting. In 1598-1599, when he travelled with the Earl of Pembroke's men in the Low Countries, it was in the capacity of playwright to rewrite old plays. He devoted 'himself to writing for the booksellers and the theatres, compiling religious works, translating Amadis de Gaule and other French romances, and putting words to popular airs. He was the chief pageant-writer for the City from 1605.
At what date he acquired the title of "poet to the city" is not known; he had certainly been previously employed in a similar capacity, as Ben Jonson introduces him in that capacity in "The Case is Altered," which was written in 1598 or 1599. He ridicules upon Don Antonio Balladino (as he calls Munday), and Middleton mentions him in his "Triumphs of Truth".
Nearly all the existing information respecting Anthony Munday's dramatic works is derived from Henslowe's papers.