26
April 1564 Date of baptism, Stratford on Avon
(i.e. date of birth: 23 April 1564)
Father:
John Shakespeare, 1565 chosen alderman 1568 bailiff
Mother:
Mary Arden, from an ancient landowner family
Stratford Grammar School,
free education, no list of pupils available (it is almost certain William
Shakespeare went there) education: Latin, History, Morals, Poetry
28
Nov 1582 issue of marriage licence for William
Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway (born 1556), Date of marriage unknown
26
May 1583 Birth of Susanna Shakespeare
2
February 1585 Birth of Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare
(Hamnet died at age II)
No
records for next 8 years. Stories circulated after Shakespeare's death:
stealing deer and getting into trouble
earning his living as a schoolmaster
going to London, working at theatre minding the horses
working in a noble household
fighting as a soldier in the Low Countries
1592
Robert Greene refers to Shakespeare
in a pamphlet:
'"There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his
tygers heart wrapt in a Players hide supposes he is as well able to bombast
out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum,
is in his own conceit the only Shake‑scene in a country"
Published after his death with an apology by the editor (i.e. Shakespeare
was already famous and probably had important friends)
1593
Publication of Venus and Adonis
and The Rape of Lucrece
with a dedication to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
1594
Shakespeare becomes a member of
the Lord Chamberlain's Men
(later, after accession of James I, called the King's Men), with the best
actor (R. Burbage), the best theatre (the Globe), and the best writer (Shakespeare)
a very successful company.
For about 20 years Shakespeare writes plays for his company
1596
Granting of a Coat of Arms to
John Shakespeare, probably applied for by William (i.e. he must have been
prosperous and successful)
1597
Purchase of New Place in Stratford
1598
A letter exists, written by Richard
Quiney, asking Shakespeare for a loan of £30.
(18 years later R. Quiney's son Thomas marries Judith Shakespeare)
1605
Purchase of a share (one fifth)
of the Stratford tithes
May
1612 Shakespeare mentioned in the records
of a lawsuit as a witness, in favour of the Mountjoy family
25
March 1616 Shakespeare's will. Property left
to the male heirs of Susanna, to his wife Anne his '"second‑best bed"
Shaky signatures (i.e. was he already ill?)
23
April 1616 Shakespeare dies
A gravestone in the chancel of Stratford Parish Church, no name, but a
little poem
Some
stories circulated after his death:
Diary of the Vicar of Stratford
(1661): 'Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it
seems drank too much for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted."
John Aubrey (1626‑1697): "He was not a company keeper; lived in Shoreditch;
wouldn't be debauched, and, if invited to, writ he was in pain."
Richard Davies, archdeacon of Lichfield: "He died a papist."
1623
Monument in the chancel wall,
with bust, and Latin epitaph, erected by Stratford citizens
Publication of the first Folio Edition, by two fellow actors, J. Heminge
and M. Condell, with poem by B. Jonson:
Triumph by Britain, thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
Me was not of an age, but for all time! ..."
With a portrait said by contemporaries to bear a reasonable likeness
Despite much scholarly
argument, it is often impossible to date a given play precisely. But there
is a general consensus, especially for plays written 1585‑1601, 1605‑1607,
and 1609 onward. The following list of first 5 performances is based on external
and internal evidence, on general stylistic and thematic considerations,
and on the observation that an output of no more than two plays a year seems
to have been established in those periods when dating is rather clearer than
others.
1589‑92 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI
1592‑93 Richard III, The Comedy of Errors
1593‑94 Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew
1594‑95 The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labour's
Lost, Romeo and Juliet
1595‑96 Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream
1596‑97 King John, The Merchant of Venice
1597‑98 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV
1598‑99 Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V
1599 1600 Julius Caesar, As You
Like It
1600‑01 Hamlet, The Merry Wives Of Windsor
1601‑02 Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida
1602‑03 All's Well That Ends Well
1604‑05 Measure For Measure, Othello
1605‑06 King Lear, Macbeth
1606‑07 Antony and Cleopatra
1607‑08 Coriolanus, Timon of Athens
1608‑09 Pericles
1609‑10 Cymbeline
1610‑11 Winter's Tale
1611‑12 The Tempest
1612‑13 Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen
from "William
Shakespeare", Encyclopaedia Britannica 15th edition 1978, 16, p.618