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Section III: Shakespeare's Life - The Dates
Shakespeare in Stratford and London,
1564-1616
   1. 1558: Six years before Shakespeare's birth 2. 1564: Shakespeare's birth
3.
1564-1578: Early Years
4.
1578-1582: Lost Years
5. 1582-1590: Marriage and Children 6. 1590-1597: First Records
of Shakespeare in London 7. 1593-1597: Shakespeare in London 8. 1597-1600 9. 1601-1607: Great Events, Great
Plays 10.
1608-1616:
London and Home 11. Afterwards
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1558: Six Years before Shakespeare's birth
England is in turmoil. When Elizabeth I becomes Queen in 1558 (on the
death of her half sister Mary), she restores Protestantism as the official
religion of England and it becomes illegal to be Roman Catholic. Mary and
Elizabeth are the daughters of the legendary Henry VIII, who established the
[Protestant] Church of England and persecuted Catholics, executing many of them
for treason (see Section
IV:). During her reign, Mary, a Catholic, persecuted Protestants.
Under Protestant Elizabeth, Catholics in England are watched carefully and are
in danger once again.
April 23, 1564: William Shakespeare is born in the village of
Stratford-upon-Avon to John and Mary Shakespeare. He is baptized on April 26 in
Holy Trinity Parish Church. William is the third of their eight children
(although the two born before him died in infancy) and their first son.
The entry in the church registry reads:
Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare (William, son of John Shakespeare).
Two of Shakespeare's most important colleagues are born: Christopher
Marlowe, playwright, in 1564, and Richard Burbage, actor, in 1567.
Shakespeare's
family
• Shakespeare's father,
John, holds several official posts in Stratford, including Alderman, Bailiff
(mayor), and Chief Alderman. However, he is accused of lending money at
excessive interest, and in 1570 his application to bear a coat of arms and
have the title of "Gentleman" is rejected.
•
Shakespeare's five younger brothers and
sisters are born and baptized in this family home on Henley Street, in
Stratford: Gilbert (1566-1612), Joan (1569-1646), Anne (1571-1579), Richard
(1574-1613), and Edmund (15801607).
•
Shakespeare is exposed to theatre as a child
when various traveling theatre companies visit Stratford: Leicester's Men (in
1572, when Shakespeare is 8 years old), Warwick's Men (1574), Lord Strange's
Men (1578), Essex's Men (1578), Berkeley's Men (1580 and 1582), and Worcester's
Men (1581).
•
In 1571
(at age 7) Shakespeare begins attending the Stratford Grammar School for a
classical education. Casses are held six days a week, from 6:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
classical education. Casses are held six days a week, from 6:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Two open-air theatres open. In 1576 James Burbage (father of the actor
Richard Burbage, who will become a member of Shakespeare's theatre company)
builds The Theatre in
Shoreditch, and in 1577 The
Curtain opens in Finsbury Fields, Shoreditch.
1578: William is thought to have left school at age 14 to help earn
money for the family by working in his father's glove business, his father
having lost his status and his wealth.
•
November
27, 1582: A marriage licence is issued to Wm Shaxpere and Anne Whateley of
Temple Grafton, Warwickshire.
•
November
28, 1582: A marriage bond is issued to William Shagspeare and Anne Hathwey of
Shottery, Stratford.
(It is believed that the first clerk
mistook Anne's name.) [1]
•
Recent
research tells us that Shakespeare may have earned a living working as a
teacher in a private Catholic home in Lancashire.
•
1583: Michael Wood,
writer and presenter of the PBS series In Search of Shakespeare, speculates
that Shakespeare may have joined the Queen's Men when they performed in
Stratford, and travelled with them.
•
1585: William
and Anne's twins, Hamnet and Judith, are born.
•
1586: John
Shakespeare is removed from the Board of Aldermen.
•
1589:
William Shakespeare and his parents are named in a legal land action against a
neighbour, John Lambert.
• 1583: The Queen's Company is formed in London.
Another open-air theatre, The Rose, Bankside, Surrey is opened.
•
1590 -
92: Shakespeare writes Henry
VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3.
•
1592: Henry VI,
Part 1 is produced by Lord Strange's Men at the Rose Theatre.
1592: Writer and actor Robert Greene dies.
In his pamphlet, Groatsworth
of Wit (left),
he described Shakespeare
as an "upstart crow":
Yes, trust them not, for 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 bumbast out a blanhe verse as the
best of you; and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his owne conceit
the onely Shahe*scene in a countrie.
•
Two months after Greene's death, his editor, Henry Chettle, apologizes publicly
to Shakespeare for the insults.
December 25, 1592: Shakespeare's father is
fined for missing church.
•
1593: An
outbreak of bubonic
plague (also called the Black Death) closes the theatres.
•
May 30,
1593: Shakespeare's friend and rival, Christopher Marlowe (right) dies, after
being stabbed over the right eye.
Records show that Marlowe was a spy for Queen Elizabeth's spymaster,
Walsingham.
•
1594: Lord Strang
e's Men become The Lord
Chamberlain's Company.
•
1595: Earliest official record of
Shakespeare in the theatre: an entry dated March 15, 1595 in
the Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Royal Chamber. Shakespeare is
listed as a payee, along with Richard Burbage and William Kemp, receiving 20 pounds for a
Christmas performance before the Queen.
•
1596: The company moves
to the Swan Theatre on
Bankside, because the London
authorities ban public plays within the city limits.
•
Tax
returns show that Shakespeare is a resident of Bishopsgate in London, a
thriving area of inns, rooming houses, merchants and artists.
•
1593:
Shakespeare begins writing the Sonnets; his long narrative poem Venus and Adonis
is published.
•
1594: A
busy year for Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus is first performed, and Henry VI, Part
2 is registered. The poem The Rape of Lucrece is registered.
On December 28 there is a confirmed performance of The Comedy of Errors.
August 11, 1596: Shakespeare's son Hamnet dies, probaby of the plague,
at the age of eleven. He is buried in Stratford.
October 20, 1596: William's father John Shakespeare is finally granted
the coat of arms he seeks, with the motto Non Sans Droict (Not Without Right)
(right).
May 1597: Shakespeare buys New Place, the
second largest house in Stratford, for £60.
•
1598: Shakespeare
and other members of the company
finance the building of the Globe Theatre ("The Globe"),
and Shakespeare is described as a "principal comedian."
•
1599: The Globe (eft)
is built on Bankside (illustrations on page 20).
•
1597: The
first quarto editions of
Richard III, Richard
II,
and Romeo and Juliet are printed, and Love's
Labour's
Lost
and Henry IV,
Part 1 are written and registered.
•
1598: The Merchant of Venice is written and
registered.
•
1600: The
first production of Julius
Caesar opens at The Globe.
As You Like It, Henry IV, Part 2 and A
Midsummer Night's Dream are written.
•
1598:
Shakespeare is mentioned as being a chief holder of corn and malt in Stratford.
•
1599: He
is recorded as having sold a load of stone to the Stratford Corporation.
1603:-
•
Sir
Walter Raleigh is arrested, tried and imprisoned.
•
The bubonic plague (the Back Death) again
ravages London, killing 33,000 people.
•
March 24:
Queen Elizabeth dies, and James VI of Scotland (son of Elizabeth's half sister,
Mary Queen of Scots) becomes the new monarch, James I of England.
•
Shakespeare acts in Ben Jonson's play Sejanus, and
is mentioned as "a principal tragedian."
1605: The Gunpowder Plot is foiled. Guy Fawkes is arrested and
executed.
• 1601: Shakespeare's acting troupe, The Chamberlain's Men, is
commissioned to stage Richard
II at the Globe.
•
1602: The Merry Wives of Windsor
is registered (January) and Twelfth Night is produced (February).
•
1603: First
printing of Hamlet.
May 19: James I becomes the official
patron of The Lord Chamberlain's Men and the company is renamed The King's Men.
•
1604: First
performance of Othello, Troilus and Cressida, and Measure
for Measure.
•
December
26, 1606: First recorded performance offing Lear, starring Richard Burbage in the
title role.
•
1601:
Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, dies and is buried on September 8.
•
1602:
Shakespeare buys land in Stratford for £320, and in November he buys a cottage
across from New Place.
•
June 5,
1607: Shakespeare's daughter Susanna marries Dr. John Hall.
•
December 1607: Shakespeare's youngest brother,
Edmund, dies.
•
1608: The
bubonic plague again kills many thousands in London.
Shakespeare is mentioned as one of
"the men's payers."
The King's Men buy the Blackfriars Theatre; Shakespeare becomes
part owner.
•
June 29,
1613: The Globe
Theatre burns.
•
1614: The
Globe Theatre is
rebuilt.
•
160<: Pericles is registered.
•
1609:
Thomas Thorpe publishes Shakespeare's sonnets without Shakespeare's permission.
•
1611:
First recorded performance of The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, and Cymbeline.
First production of The
Tempest (Shakespeare's last play as a solo writer).
November 5: The
Winter's Tale is performed at court.
•
1608: Shakespeare's
granddaughter (Susanna's daughter), Elizabeth Hall, is baptized;
his mother, Mary Arden, dies and is buried.
•
1612: Shakespeare's
younger brother Gilbert dies.
1613: Shakespeare's younger brother
Richard dies.
•
March 25,
1616: William Shakespeare signs his will (left).
• 
April 23, 1616: William
Shakespeare dies, after a brief illness.
April 23, 1616: William
Shakespeare dies, after a brief illness. |
April
25, 1616: William Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church
in Stratford (right).
•
August 6, 1623: Anne Hathaway dies and is buried
beside her husband, William Shakespeare.
•
1623: The
First Folio (right), a
collection of Shakespeare's plays
compiled by his comrades Heminges and Condell, is published.
•
1637: Ben
Jonson dies.
•
1644: The
Puritans demolish The
Globe Theatre.
•
1649:
Shakespeare's daughter Susanna (Shakespeare) Hall dies, and is buried next to
her mother and father in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.
•
1662:
Shakespeare's daughter Judith (Shakespeare) Quiney dies.
Judith had three children, but all of them died before she did.
•
1670:
Shakespeare's granddaughter (Susanna's daughter) Lady Elizabeth
Hall Bernard dies, leaving no heirs—and ending Shakespeare's direct line.
Nearly 400 years after his death, the
word is still obsessed with Shakespeare's work, on
stage, on screen and in books.
Shakespeare's friend Ben Jonson was right when he wrote,
He wag not ofi an ape, bat far affl time
[1] May 26, 1583: William and Anne's first
child, Susanna, is baptized (six months after her parents' wedding).
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