.

When William was fourteen his father lost his public position, so it’s  probable that William left school and joined his father in business, making and selling gloves.

Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King’s New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing, and the classics, including Latin. Read the whole William Shakespeare biography, or skip to the section of Shakespeare’s life you’re most interested in:

Shakespeare’s Birth and Family
Shakespeare’s Childhood & Education
Shakespeare’s Marriage & Children
Shakespeare’s Lost Years
Shakespeare’s London Years
Shakespeare’s Retirement
Shakespeare’s Death

A Very Brief William Shakespeare Biography

1. Parents: John Shakespeare & Mary Shakespeare (nee Arden).
2. Date of Birth: Generally accepted as 23rd April 1564.

   The uncertainty regarding his education has led some people question the authorship of his work.

   Wife Anne Hathaway and Children

   A drawing of Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare

   Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in November 1852. Some scholars also point to his signature on his will being somewhat shaky, suggesting his frailty at the time.

   Even in death, he leaves a final piece of verse as his epitaph:

   Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare
   To dig the dust enclosed here.
   Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
   And cursed be he that moves my bones.

   ---

   Biographical Links

   Mrs.

   Although the theater culture in 16^th century England was not greatly admired by people of high rank, some of the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors.

   She joined the staff in October 2022 and most recently worked as an editor for Popular Mechanics, Runner’s World, and Bicycling. As an aside, there is lots of historical discussion and exploration about whether bequeathing his second-best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway was a slight against her or not.

   But only two of their three children lived to adulthood. In this same year, his son Hamnet died of unknown causes, aged eleven.

   By 1599 Shakespeare was living in Bankside, on the south side of The Thames near the infamous Clink Prison. Historians use the following primary sources to piece together his life:

   • Shakespeare’s works — the plays, poems and sonnets.
   • Official records such as church and court records.
   • Written commentary about Shakespeare and his work from contemporaries such as Robert Green and Ben Johnson.

   Biographers over the years have amassed an immense amount of knowledge and information Some fact, some opinion.

   149 sonnets. Beginning with the Romantic period of the early 1800s and continuing through the Victorian period, acclaim and reverence for Shakespeare and his work reached its height.

   

   There are other reports that Michael Drayton and Ben Johnson visited Shakespeare a week before he died and spent the evening eating and drinking together.

   This may be true, but there is a further theory that Shakespeare was sick for over a month before he died. In 1605, Shakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for 440 pounds, which doubled in value and earned him an income of 60 pounds a year.

   His contemporary Christopher Marlowe did go to Cambridge, but most playwrights, including Ben Johnson, did not.

   To get a feel for Shakespeare’s childhood it’s interesting to note that when Shakespeare was a child water was not clean enough to drink. By this time he also had a granddaughter, Elizabeth, daughter of Susanna.

   Retirement for Shakespeare was not a matter of sitting around in slippers and letting the world pass him by.

   The ensuing speculation has spawned many interesting theories without producing much hard evidence.

   Introducing Mr. William Shakespeare

   Leigh T. Denault presents a great succinct biography sketch of Shakespeare.

   Searching for Shakespeare

   Searching for Shakespeare is an online mseum exhibition curated by the Centre of Archaeology at Staffordshire University in collaboration with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

   Shakespeare Biography

   From Absolute Shakespeare; describes all that is known about Shakespeare's life from available documentation including court and church records, marriage certificates and criticisms by Shakespeare's rivals.

   Shakespeare's Biography (Shakespeare Online)

   An in-depth and accurate biography of William Shakespeare.

   Shakespeare Documented

   This is the largest and most authoritative collection of primary-source materials documenting the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), bringing together all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare, his works, and additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

   Shakespeare's Life (Folger Shakespeare Library)

   From the website of the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, the largest collection of Shakespeare materials and other Renaissance works.

   Shakespeare's Life and Times

   Who was William Shakespeare?

   Shakespeare. Her current working theory is that people are the point of life, and she’s fascinated by everyone who (and every system that) creates our societal norms.