William Shakespea

reBaptized 23 April1564Died 23 April 1616

Childhood & Youth

Baptized April 26, 1564.Married November 28, 1582.

Stratford-upon-Avon-About 100 miles northwest of London- population around1,500 (that would be about the size of the current St. Cecilia Academy community)

- The population of London in 1530 had been about 50,000, and growing.

Family & Home

Home was Stratford-upon Avon.His father – John Shakespeare -- was a glover

and an alderman (“village elder”).His mother – Mary Arden -- was born of gentry.Shakespeare was the 3rd of their 8 children. His

two older sisters had died in infancy.

Education

He probably went to the free public grammar school there, and never to university.

He would have learned grammar, literature, and some Latin.

Shakespeare was mocked in London for his lack of education – “smalle Latin and little Greek”

Marriage

At the age of 18, on November 28, 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway.

She was 26 years older and 3 months pregnant.They had three children:Susanna (born May 26, 1583, died 1649 at 66)Twins:Hamnet (baptized Feb 2, 1585, died 1596 at 11)Judith (baptized Feb 2, 1585, died 1662 at 77)

Shakespeare’s FamilyA nineteenth-century engraving depicting Shakespeare as a family man surrounded by his children, who listen entranced to his stories. Anne is portrayed at the right as an idealised housewife, sewing a garment.

World Events of the 1560’s

Elizabeth I queen of England1564: In Italy, Michelangelo dies & Galileo is born.1565: pencils begin to be manufactured!!!1566: (rebellion in Spain…)1567: Mary Queen of Scots forced to abdicate…1569: due to threatened rebellion in the North,

Elizabeth cracks down on Catholics, including in Stratford-on-Avon

1570: In Stratford, a retainer of Sir Thomas Lucy is appointed steward of the town, and all remaining signs of Stratford's Catholic heritage are ordered removed

1571: Battle of Lepanto; Austrians end Turkish sea power in central Mediterranean; Elizabeth I excommunicated; William Shakespeare goes to school

1580

Privy Council warns all diocese against the corruptive influence of Catholic sympathizers in schools. In towns like Stratford, where the majority of schoolmasters were old Catholics, State informers are primed to report any behavior by teachers that might be considered disloyal to the crown.

Silent Years

1582-1592What was he doing?

Elizabethan Years

1589 - 1606

1589Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Comedy of Errors

1590

Henry VI, Part I

King John

1592 - Robert Greene calls Shakespeare “"an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey."

1592

Henry VI, Part 2

Henry VI, Part 3

1593

[Henry IV of France becomes a Roman Catholic]"Henry VI Part 3" completed and performed at The Theatre"The Taming of the Shrew" written and performed at The Theatre"Richard III" written and performed at The Theatre"Venus and Adonis" (sonnets) printed

1594

Earl of Tyrone revolts in IrelandThe French painter Poussin bornRural England begins to suffer years of bad

harvests "The Rape of Lucrece" (sonnets) printed"Love's Labour's Lost" written and performed at The Theatre"Romeo and Juliet" written and performed at The Theatre

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men

In May, Shakespeare and Richard Burbage join a new company, formed by Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon. This new company, formed with many players William has worked with before, has strong connections with Warwickshire. Shakespeare will remain with this company for the rest of his life, doubtless enjoying being able to use much of the rich language of his Warwickshire youth and have it sound authentic in the delivery of players raised with the same language and accents.

• Together with Edward Alleyn's The Admiral's Men, who performed Christopher Marlowe's plays, the companies would dominate London theatre.

Jacobean Years

King James I crowned in 1603.Shakespeare retired 1613.

Shakespeare died 1623.

By 1605, the population of London had grown to 225,000.

Posthumous Events