WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 1616) nr 2 Shakespeare s Life -the first documentary reference: the parish Register from Stratford-upon

-Avon recording William s baptism on April 26, 1564 Guiliamus filius Johannes Shakspere that is, William son of John Shakspere( the third child of eight born to John and Mary Shakespeare, but the first son, and the first child to survive past infancy.) ( the date of birth most likely April 23, 1564 ) -Shakespeares father, John Shakespeare : a tanner, glove-maker and dealer in agricultural products, who also held a number of public offices over a twenty year period, ranging from Borough Ale Taster to alderman to bailiff, the highest public office in Stratford- upon -Avon (by that time, a prosperous market centre for the county of Warwickshire in the rural heartland of England) -Shakespeares mother, Mary Shakespeare(born Mary (Arden) : the daughter of awell-to-do landowner in a lesser branch of an aristocratic family from the neighbouring Wilmcote . -Education:up to the crisis of his fathers fortune (about 1577)the Stratford Grammar School established by the corporation of the town as early as 1553. This is where Shakespeare learnt small Latin and less Greek . (Ben Jonson, To the Memory of My Beloved Master William Shakespeare ) -the next official public record on William Shakespeare: a 40 pouthe pnd marriage bond of sureties posted by two Warwickshire farmers on November 28, 1582 for the legality of the marriage between William Shakespeare ( William Shagspere ) (18) and Anne Hathaway (Anne Hathwey ) (26).

-the next public record: : May 26, 1583, Shakespeare,s first daughter Susanna was christened. -February 2, 1585: the christening of the twin children Hamnet and Judith , sonne and daughter to William Shakspeare .Unfortunately, Hamnet, Shakespeare`s only son, died at the age of 11 and was buried at Stratford in 1596. -1585-1592: only vague information about his life in London -about 1587-fleeing Stratford for London (caught poaching deer in the park of the influential Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlcote ?); ?); -theatrical career: accepted as an actor in the company of the Earl of Leicester, as his name appears in casts of players for Ben Jonson`s plays; -1592: Robert Greene`s s A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance:an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger`s heart wrapped in a Player`s hide,supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in the country. -1592-93 93: during the plague, the theatres were closed 1593: the narrative poem Venus and Adonis;1594: the narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece, both dedicated to Henry , Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton.Some of the sonnets may have also been composed during the same period. -1595: Shakespeare : an important member of the Lord Chamberlains Men.

-October 1596: the College of Heralds : granted a coat of arms to the family patriarch, John Shakespeare.The grant was approved on the basis of the faithefull & approved service to H7[Henry VII] performed by John`s great- grandfather, and because John himself had maryed the daughter & one of the heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote. -15971597: Shakespeare, aged 33, : had already improved his fortune and bettered his social status. He invested 60 pounds in New Place, the second largest house in Stratford, with two barns and two orchards attached. -From 1598, Shakespeares name began to appear upon published plays: Richard III, , Richard II, , Loves Labours Lost (Titus Andronicus had also been published but anonymously in 1594.) appreciated by his contemporaries, e.g. Francis Meres((Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury,--1598): praising Shakespeares poetry the two narrative poems, Venus and AdoniS and The Rape of Lucrece,,and the Sonnetsand then comparing Shakespeare to Plautus in comedy and to Seneca in tragedy. in -1601: Shakespeares name was related to that of the Earl of Essexconspirers against Queen Elizabeth I (the performance of his play Richard II by Shakespeares company, the Lord Chamberlains Men). Nonetheless, that did not affect Shakespeares popularity at the royal court: during the last ten years of Elizabeths reign, the Lord Chamberlains Men performed at court thirtystwo times, compared to thirty tseven performances by all other companies combined. -1603: The royal documents mention Shakespeare as one of the sharers : of the Kings Men (the former Lord Chamberlains Men) and 5 years later, he becomes an owner of the Blackfriars Theatre with a seventh share. -1607-1607: Shakespeare: Shakespeares eldest daughter Susanna married Dr. John Hall and one year later, in February 1608, her only child Elizabeth was born. -1609-1609: Shakespeare: Shakespeares sonnets were piratically printed, apparently without their authors knowledge or consent. -1610-11 : Shakespeare retired from London to Stratford-upon-Avon at New Place to lead the life of a country gentleman, taking interest in municipal affairs or receiving visits from his old friends Ben Jonson and his fellow actors Heminge , Burbage and Condell. , -1611: He was one of a number of citizens who : contributed to the maintenance of highways in the Stratford area. -1612:He was in London, giving evidence in a civil suit brought by a London tiretmaker against a former apprentice. -June 29, 1613: the performance of the play he wrote : in collaboration with John Fletcher, Henry VIII The Globe burned to the ground. -March 25, 1616:He revised and signed his will. -April 25, 1616: his burial recorded in the Stratford Parish Register,,but he died on April 23(this is the date given on the funerary (monument erected before 1623). -buried on April 25, 1616 in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, where he had been baptised just over 52 years earlier. His epitaph: Good friend for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here! Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones. (In 1741, a monument was erected to his memory in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey. The house where he was born was purchased for preservation as a National Memorial in 1847

and the First Shakespeare Memorial Theatre-now the Royal Shakespeare Theatre-was opened in 1879.) -the executors: my-son-in law, John Hall, gent. and my daughter Susanna, his wife.