Shakespare

Shakespeare

By deltimetoast
  • Period: 1616 BCE to 1617 BCE

    Shakespeare dies

    23 April 1616: There are no contemporary accounts of Shakespeare’s death, though he made his will a month before he died, in which he says he is in “perfect health”
    Fifty years later the vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote that Shakespeare died of a fever contracted after a “merry meeting” where he “drank too hard.” His will contains some insight into his property. For unknown reasons, he left his wife his “second best bed”.
  • Period: 1613 BCE to 1614 BCE

    Shakespeare writes his last play

    1613: The Two Noble Kinsmen was possibly the last play Shakespeare worked on. He wrote it with a collaborator, John Fletcher. In the previous decade he had written his late romances - Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. These plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s but less so than the tragedies, as they end with reconciliation and forgiveness for potentially tragic actions.
  • Period: 1609 BCE to 1611 BCE

    Shakespeare's sonnets published

    1609: Shakespeare published 154 sonnets which explored themes of love, sex and beauty. He probably started them in 1592 when plague closed the theatres.
    The sonnets include a dedication to one "Mr. W.H.". The identity of this person remains a mystery and has provoked a great deal of speculation. Sonnets were a traditional and popular form during the Elizabethan period.
  • Period: 1603 BCE to 1605 BCE

    Royal patronage

    1603: After Elizabeth I died, Shakespeare’s company was awarded a royal patent by King James I (VI of Scotland), and became the King’s Men.
    King Lear, probably composed in this year, took divided kingdoms as its theme mirroring James I's new domain of England, Scotland and Wales. Meanwhile Macbeth, also written early in James's reign, gives a kind portrayal of James’s ancestor Banquo and was probably intended to honour the new king’s Scottish ancestry.
  • Period: 1599 BCE to 1532 BCE

    Building the Globe

    1599:
    Shakespeare’s plays made him both famous and wealthy. By now he was a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
    The group built their own theatre called the Globe, and Shakespeare owned a 12.5% stake. This made him even wealthier. He invested in property in Stratford and London, and records of his purchases survive. In 1597 he bought the second biggest house in Stratford for his family, as well as 107 acres of farmland and a cottage.
  • Period: 1598 BCE to 1599 BCE

    Shakespeare is credited on his own work

    1598:
    In 1598, Love's Labour's Lost was Shakespeare's first work published with his name on the title page, suggesting it was now a selling point.
    That year the author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. His work attracted royal attention; he acted in several performances before Queen Elizabeth I. Some academics suggest that his history plays were supportive of Elizabeth’s claim to the throne.
  • Period: 1596 BCE to 1598 BCE

    Shakespeare becomes a gentleman

    October 1596:
    William is thought to have revived his father’s lapsed application for a family coat of arms in 1596.
    Scholars suggest the application showed he was now a successful businessman as much as a talented playwright. In 1602 he had to defend his title against accusations that “Shakespeare ye player” did not merit the honour of a coat of arms. By this time Shakespeare's company had performed Romeo and Juliet, Richard II and a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Period: 1592 BCE to 1594 BCE

    Shakespeare’s first review

    1592:
    The next known record of Shakespeare appears after he was already a playwright in London. It's a review – and not a positive one.
    Playwright Robert Greene called Shakespeare an "upstart crow”, accusing him of reaching above his rank compared with university-educated writers such as Christopher Marlowe and Greene himself. Drama in Elizabethan theatre shifted from the religious to the secular and companies of players formed to entertain the public under the patronage of noblemen.
  • Period: 1585 BCE to 1592 BCE

    Marriage and the lost years

    1585-1592:
    Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, in 1582 when he was 18. She was already three months pregnant with their first child.
    The baptisms of his three children are the last record of him for seven years, known as his lost years. At some point Shakespeare went to London, leaving his family in Stratford, and established himself as a playwright and actor. Some claim he worked as a teacher, an apprentice butcher or a lawyer’s clerk.
  • Period: 1571 BCE to 1573 BCE

    Shakespeare’s education

    1571:
    Details of Shakespeare’s schooling are unknown. It is likely that he began his education at the age of six or seven.
    As his father was now a bailiff, young William probably attended the local grammar school. Its curriculum emphasised Greek classics and pupils also learned plays in Latin. Religious education was also important, and Shakespeare drew on these sources in his later work with classical and religious allusions. Shakespeare probably attended school until about age 15.
  • Period: 1564 BCE to 1564 BCE

    William Shakespare christened

    26 Abril 1564:
    There is no record of Shakespeare’s birth, but his christening is recorded. It was usual for christenings to take place on the third day after birth.
    He was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who had recently converted England to Protestantism. Shakespeare’s parents had been Catholics, and the tension between the new and old religions can be seen in much of his work. William’s father, John Shakespeare, was a member of the borough council of Stratford-upon-Avon.