-
The Bard Is Born. William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. ...
-
On April 26, 1564, in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, William, son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, was baptized. His actual birth date isn't known for sure, but it is usually assumed that he was born on the 23 of April, and that is the date that is traditionally celebrated.
-
Shakespeare enters King's New School, an excellent grammar school in Stratford attended by the sons of civil servants like his father. Boys typically enter the school around the age of five, but since no official records survive its impossible to know exactly when Shakespeare starts his education. Other than the dates of his marriage and children's births, little is known about Shakespeare's life before 1592—a period known as the "Lost Years.
-
The Bishop of Worcester issues a marriage license to "William Shagspere" and "Ann Hathwey," formalizing the marriage of 18-year-old William Shakespeare and 26-year-old Anne Hathaway.
-
Six months after their marriage, the Shakespeare's first child, Susanna, is born and baptized.
-
Anne Hathaway gives birth to twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith. The babies are named after Shakespeare's close friends, Hamnet and Judith Sadler.
-
Around this time, Shakespeare writes Henry VI, Part One—his very first play. Like all of Shakespeare's plays, the precise year of its authorship is now unclear. Also around the same time, Shakespeare leaves Stratford to begin work as a playwright and actor in London.
-
Playwright Robert Greene pens a scathing critique of Shakespeare, calling him an "upstart crow" who doesn't belong with Greene's university-educated dramatist crowd. Thanks to this diatribe, we now know that Shakespeare has become successful enough as a playwright by 1592 to make his peers jealous.
-
London theaters are closed due to an outbreak of bubonic plague that eventually kills about five percent of the city's residents. Shakespeare uses the break to write poetry.
-
Shakespeare publishes "Venus and Adonis," his first long published poem. It is dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.
-
In the spring of 1594, the London theaters reopen to the public. Over the next five years Shakespeare's troupe, the Chamberlain's Men, becomes one of the most popular acting groups in London. They accept frequent invitations to perform in the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I.
-
Sufferning from an unknown illness, William Shakespeare dies on his 52nd birthday.