Elizabethan dramatist, 1558-1594.
A cultured man, despite not having attended university, Kyd worked for some years probably as playwright and actor for an unknown nobleman (probably Lord Strange). Quite a lot of probably.
What we know for sure is that in 1593 Kyd was investigated for libel; while going through his papers the officers found writings supposedly "denynge the deity of Jhesus Christe or Savior".
He was arrested for heresy and tortured. In his defense, he said that the writings where not his but Marlowe's - Kyd had, for a time, shared a room with the other dramaturgist.
The affair is somewhat unclear. What is well known is that Marlowe died a couple of weeks after Kyd's arrest (famously stabbed). Kyd himself was not going to live for long; he died on 15 August 1594.
His only extant work is The Spanish Tragedy, but it is supposed that he wrote more.