William Shakespeare's Timeline

  • Period: 1564 to 1582

    April 23rd 1564, The Birth of William Shakespeare

  • Period: 1582 to

    1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway

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    1583, Susanna, is born, Shakespeare's first child

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    1585, Shakespeares twins, Judith and Hamnet are born

  • Period: to 1593 BCE

    1592, Shakespeare's first alluded to as a playwright, in Greene's Groates-worth of Wit

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    1593, Shakespeare's first written poem, Venus and Adonis

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    1594, Shakespeare's first printed play, Titus Andronicus, appears

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    1596, Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare's , is granted a coat of arms; Shakespeare's son , Hamnet, dies

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    1597, Shakespeare purchases New Place in Staford-upon-Avon

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    1598, Shakespeare is first mentioned as a sonneteer and author of 12 plays in Palladis Tamia

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    1600, Extracts from Shakespeare's plays and poetry appear in Bel-vedere, the first printed literary commonplace book to include plays

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    1601, Shakespeare's father , John Shakespeare, dies

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    1602, The heralds dispute the ligitimacy of a group of a coat of arms, including Shakespeare's ; Shakespeare ratifies his purchase of New Place

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    1603, Shakespeare's acting company, the Lord Chamberlaine's Men, becomes the King's Men at the accession of James I; Hamlet appears in print

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    1607, Shakespeare's daughter Susanna marries John Hall

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    1608, Shakespeare's mother, Mary (Arden) Shakespeare dies; his grandaughter Elizabeth is born

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    1609, Shakespeare's Sonnets appear in print

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    1613, Shakespeare purchases the Blackfriars gatehouse in London ; the Globe burns down during a performance of Henry VII and is rebuilt within a year

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    1616, Shakespeare writes his will; his daughter Judith marries Thomas Quiney; Shakespeare dies

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    1623, The First Folio is published; Shakespeare's widow Anne dies