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William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. Though April 23 is commonly accepted as Shakespeare's birthday, it's impossible to know the exact date he was born
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William Shakespeare is christened at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
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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.
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The Bishop of Worcester issues a marriage license to "William Shakespeare" and "Ann Hathaway," formalizing the marriage of 18-year-old William Shakespeare and 26-year-old Anne Hathaway.
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Shakespeare has his first child, Susanna, sixth months after marriage.
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A twin son, Hamnet, and daughter, Judith, are born.
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Henry VI Part II was the first play performed.
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London theaters are closed due to a plague.
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In spring of 1594 the theaters reopen to the public.
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Hamnet dies at the age of 11 due to unknown causes.
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Shakespeare buys the second largest house in Stratford.
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One of Shakespeare's most famous plays released. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately harmonize their feuding families.
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The Chamberlains Men build the Globe Theater.
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Another famous play written by Shakespeare, set in Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet.
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The cause of Elizabeth’s death remains a hotly contested subject. Before her death, Elizabeth refused permission for a post-mortem to be conducted, leaving the cause of her death forever shrouded in mystery.
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In 1586, James and Elizabeth I became allies under the Treaty of Berwick.
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Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatizes the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake.
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Publisher Thomas Thorpe prints a collection of 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets.
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On June 29, 1613, staged cannon fire during a performance of “Henry VIII” ignited a fire that burned the Globe Theater to the ground.
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The cause of Shakespeare’s death is not known for sure, though there’s a commonly held theory that Shakespeare died after contracting a fever after a drinking binge with fellow playwrights Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton.
