-
Elizabeth I had a big impact on theater in England, including making her own company.
-
His birthday is observed as April 23, 1564(Saint George's Day), but the exact date of Shakespeare's birth is unknown, but it is most likely in April soon before his baptism.
-
It was very common for English babies, such as Shakespeare, to be baptized soon after birth.
-
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.
-
Shakespeare Married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18.
-
Sixth months after the wedding, Anne gave birth to their first daughter, Susanna. She was baptized on 26 May 1583.
-
Judith and Hamnet were born almost two years after Susanna. They were baptized 2 February 1585. Hamnet died at the age of 11.
-
After the birth of the twins, Shakespeare has no records until he appears in the London theater in 1592.
-
He may have been writing plays prior to this, but the first recorded play of his own showed in 1592.
-
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.
-
The theaters close due to the bubonic plague, that eventually kills five percent of the residents. Shakespeare uses this as inspiration for poetry. They will reopen the spring of 1594.
-
Shakespeare publishes his first work of long poetry, called "Venus and Adonis."
-
Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare. This company soon became the most popular in England.
-
Shakespeare was a wealthy man, and in 1597, he bought the second largest house in Stratford, called the New Place.
-
Shakespeare, and a partnership of members of Lord Chamberlain's Men, built their own theater south of the River Thames callled the Globe.
-
Shakespeare's father dies, and over the next few years, he writes plays in a dark brooding tone, known as tragedy.
-
As soon as Elizabeth I dies, King James takes the throne in England.
-
Shakespeare and the rest of the partnership that owns the Globe, bought the Blackfriars Indoor Theater.
-
At around the age of 49, Shakespeare retires from London back to his hometown of Stratford.
-
Shakespeare composes his final plays, Henry VIII, Two Noble Kinsmen , and the now-lost Cardenio, in collaboration with John Fletcher, the new playwright for the King's Men. The Globe catches fire during a performance of Henry VIII and burns to the ground.
-
Shakespeare calls his lawyer to revise his will, making some changes that include leaving his "second-best bed" to his wife, Anne, and £10 to the poor.
-
Shakespeare died at the age of 52.
-
Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, the same church where he was baptized. His marker orders a curse on anyone who disturbs his grave.
