A Highly Speculative Chronology of
William Shakespeare’s Life
& Times
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Birth of Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare’s future
mentor
1568
Shakespeare’s father John is
selected as Bailiff (mayor) of Stratford.
1572 Birth
of Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s future rival
1576
John Shakespeare applies for a
coat-of-arms. He is denied.
James Burbage, father of Richard, builds the Theatre. It
is the first playhouse in England.
1577
The Curtain, England’s second
playhouse, is erected near the Theatre in Shoreditch. It is used primarily as
an “easer” or overflow space.
1578 Struggling
with heavy debts, John Shakespeare mortgages his property. Due to the family’s
financial problems, 14-year-old William is forced to leave school after only nine
years of formal education. He will never attend school again.
1579 Birth
of John Fletcher, Shakespeare’s future successor as company playwright
1580 Birth
of Edmund, Shakespeare’s youngest brother
The Theatre and the Curtain survive an earthquake that
rocks London.
1582 In
September, Shakespeare, aged 18, has unprotected sex with Anne Hathaway, aged
26.
In December, Shakespeare marries the pregnant Miss
Hathaway.
1583 Birth
of Shakespeare’s first child, Susanna (May 26)
Shakespeare struggles to find a way to support his wife
and daughter. One old story suggests that he was a schoolmaster. Some have
speculated that he might have been a law clerk, as his early plays demonstrate
an uncommon knowledge of legal terms and principles. He also may serve in the
military at some point during the next five years.
1584
Marlowe graduates from Corpus Christi College with a
Bachelor of Arts degree.
1585 Birth
of Shakespeare’s twins, Judith & Hamnet (February 2)
1586
This year sees the premiere of
Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, the
first great English stage tragedy.
1587 Philip
Henslowe builds the Rose playhouse in the Liberty of the Clink, Bankside, as the
principal home for the Lord Admiral’s Men. Their chief playwright is Marlowe,
their leading actor is Ned Alleyn and their premiere productions are Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Pts. 1 & 2.
In a performance of Tamburlaine,
Pt. 2, during the scene in which Baghdad’s governor is executed by firing
squad, one of the muskets turns out to be loaded with live ammunition. The
actor, suddenly realizing this, aims away from his fellow actors at the last
moment. The stray bullet strikes a pregnant woman in the audience and kills
her.
Marlowe’s Doctor
Faustus premieres at the Rose with Ned Alleyn in the title role, and
possibly featuring Dick Burbage as Mephistofeles.
Historians Raphael Holinshed and William Harrison
publish their second edition of The Whole Volume of Chronicles, a
well-written and oft-used plot source for Shakespeare and other dramatists.
Marlowe
earns his Masters degree from Corpus Christi College.
1588 Sometime
this year Shakespeare may have composed or collaborated on a play called Edmund Ironsides. Its authorship remains
disputed.
1589
Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta premieres.
Shakespeare probably joins a touring troupe of
actors this year, most likely Lord Strange’s Men. Their leading man is Dick Burbage,
who will become Shakespeare’s life-long business partner. Shakespeare may have
written The Comedy of Errors already, perhaps offering it to the company as an
incentive to hire him. While his theatrical career sometimes is portrayed as a desertion
of his family, it was more likely an honest effort to secure a profession that
would earn more money for their support.
Arden of Feversham is a domestic tragedy that
is well received by audiences. It will remain popular for over fifty years, with
revivals in the 18th and 19th centuries. A quarto edition is published in 1592,
and there is a second printing in ’99 and a third in 1633. No author is ever
credited, but some critics have speculated that it might have been an early
work of Shakespeare’s, perhaps even his very first play. It recounts the true
story of a man named Arden who was murdered by a pair of thugs hired by Arden’s
unfaithful wife. It is linked to Shakespeare for three reasons: the story
appears in Holinshed’s Chronicles, a frequent plot source for
Shakespeare; the famous murder victim was related to Shakespeare through his
mother, Mary Arden; and, finally, it’s a pretty good play, featuring that
peculiar mix of comedy and tragedy found in the poet’s best work. Since it was
still popular when the First Folio was published, it seems likely that
it would have been included if it were indeed the work of Shakespeare (though
the editors had to negotiate for the rights to publish The Taming of the
Shrew, also an early play, and that could have been the case with Arden as
well). But if Shakespeare didn’t write it, then who did? If nothing else, Arden
of Feversham, like Edmund Ironsides and Edward III, is an
anonymous play which exhibits those touches of promise that could indicate the
early efforts of a future, great writer.
1590 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
Titus Andronicus
?
Inspired by Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy
Edward III
?
Shakespeare’s authorship of Edward
III has been argued for centuries. The consensus today is that he probably
wrote at least some of it.
Marlowe’s Tamburlaine
is a huge hit in its revival at the Rose by the Lord Admiral’s Men. Ned Alleyn
stars.
1591 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
The Taming of
the Shrew
?
Possibly based on an unfinished work
by Marlowe
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella is published, kicking off a popular craze for
sonnets that will last through the ’90’s.
1592 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
Henry VI, Pts. 1, 2 & 3
?
Co-authored with Marlowe, and
probably featuring Shakespeare as a supporting actor
In January, Shakespeare’s “Harey the 6” is performed by
the Admiral’s Men (Alleyn, Henslowe and company) at the Rose. The number of
performances indicates that the Henry VI
plays, especially the first one, are very popular.
The second Spanish Armada is wrecked during its attempt
to invade England.
Back in Stratford, John Shakespeare finds himself once
again in danger of arrest for debt.
Robert Greene’s Groatsworth
of Wit is published, in which he bitterly chides the new actor-playwright
“Shake-scene” as a plagiarist and an “upstart.” After Greene’s death this same
year, his publisher Henry Chettle issues an apology in the book Kind Heart’s Dream, praising Shakespeare
as a fine fellow and an admired actor.
On
September 7, the London Council reacts to one of the worst outbreaks of plague
in history by ordering the closure of all playhouses. Except for one brief
re-opening in January of ’93, London’s playhouses stay boarded up for over a
year and a half, finally re-opening in the summer of 1594. During this period
of closure, the death toll in London will mount to 11,000 out of population of
250,000.
1593
His nascent theatre career suddenly
put on hold, Shakespeare joins in the sonnet-writing craze, composing over
150—and possibly many more—during the
course of the next five or six years.
Playwright
Thomas Kyd is arrested for heresy. He is imprisoned and tortured. On the rack,
he implicates Marlowe as a heretic and atheist. Atheism is tantamount to
treason in Elizabethan England.
In ’93 and ’94 Shakespeare composes the poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, dedicating both to
earl Henry Wriothesley of Southampton. After Venus, Southampton
becomes Shakespeare’s patron. Southampton extends his patronage to other
writers as well, including his language tutor John Florio, who is writing an
Italian-English dictionary, and the satirical playwright and pornographic poet
Thomas Nashe.
London’s
playhouses briefly reopen in January. Marlowe’s controversial Massacre At Paris is performed. But when
plague flares up before the end of the month, the playhouses are all shuttered
again.
Shakespeare’s erotic poem Venus and Adonis is entered in the Stationers’ Register on April 18
and published thereafter. It is very popular, particularly among “the younger
sort” according to a letter written by fellow poet Gabriel Harvey. The poem is
reprinted in no less than ten editions over the course of the next decade.
On May 27, an informer
named Robert Baines delivers a report on Marlowe to the Privy Council. The
report accuses Marlowe of promoting atheism and making various heretical
statements, such as claiming that the world is older than 6,000 years and that
Jesus and his disciple John were lovers. The report ends with the
recommendation that Marlowe’s “mouth should be stopped.” Three days later . . .
. . . on
May 30, Marlowe is stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer in Eleanor Bull’s
lodging house in Deptford, a London suburb. Robert Poley and Nick Skeres, the
two “witnesses” to the crime, are both veteran spies and provocateurs. They
claim it was the result of a fight over the tavern bill. However, Marlowe had been
a sometime-spy for the crown, and he may have been murdered as a result of his
clandestine activities.
1594 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
Love’s Labor’s
Lost
Richard III
Poet
George Chapman vies for Southampton’s attention and patronage by publishing a
pair of poems in a volume entitled The
Shadow of Night. In the preface he makes a veiled jab at Shakespeare and
his Venus and Adonis. Chapman may be
the Rival Poet alluded to in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
It
is likely that, early this year, the first version of Love’s Labor’s Lost is written and staged in a private performance
for Southampton and his friends. The play is full of inside jokes and topical
references to the court life of the day. One of the notables who gets skewered
is Sir Walter Raleigh. The earls of Southampton and Essex consider him a rival,
and since he is currently out of favor with the Queen he is ripe for mockery.
Three years later, however, when Raleigh is popular again and the play is
performed for her Majesty at Christmas, the script is revised. All references
to Raleigh are removed and his character is re-cast as a Spaniard.
Shakespeare’s
poem The Rape of Lucrece is entered
in the Stationers’ Register on May 9 and published shortly thereafter. Southampton rewards its author with a
financial gift, possibly around a ₤100 or more.
On
June 3, the playhouses are finally reopened by order of the London Council.
They have been closed since September of 1592. Shakespeare heads back to London
where he becomes a partner (a “sharer”) in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, possibly
using the money he just received from Southampton. The Chamberlain’s Men is a
prestigious acting company headed by James Burbage and his sons, Cuthbert and
Richard. They are partly funded and protected through the patronage of Lord
Hunsdon, the Queen’s Chamberlain.
Shakespeare rents lodgings in the parish of St. Helen’s
Bishopsgate, within walking distance of the three chief playhouses where the
Lord Chamberlain’s Men will perform:
the Theatre, the Curtain, and the Cross Keys Inn on Gracechurch Street.
At first, however, both the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the Lord Admiral’s Men
share Henslowe’s performance space at Newington Butts. The Chamberlain’s Men’s
opening show there is The Taming of the
Shrew.
Richard III premieres later this summer.
With Richard Burbage in the title role, the show is a big hit.
A play called King
Leir and His Three Daughters (author unknown) is performed in London. Shakespeare’s
later work is either based on this play or on the same source material.
In
September the mysterious poem Willobie
His Avisa is published under the pseudonym “Hadrian Dorrell.” It may be the
work of a poet named Henry Willoughby, though some critics suggest another
writer, Matthew Roydon. Its preface mentions “Shake-speare” as the author of The Rape of Lucrece. This is the earliest-known
occurrence of Shakespeare’s name appearing in print. The poem’s meaning and
intentions remain unclear. One interpretation is that it, like Shakespeare’s
own sonnets, alludes to a menage à trois
in which “W.S.” (Shakespeare) and “H.W.” (Henry Wriothesley, earl of
Southampton) took part. While the sexual angle may not be the case, there can
be little doubt that the initials “W.S.” and “H.W.” refer to Shakespeare and
Wriothesley.
Henry
Wriothesley comes of age in October, gaining his full inheritance and control
over his affairs as the Third Earl of Southampton. (Since the death of his
father, he had been the ward of Lord Burghley.)
The
Lord Chamberlain requests a permit on October 8 from the Lord Mayor of London
to allow his “new company of players” to perform a winter season of plays at
the Cross Keys Inn.
England suffers a notably bad harvest this year.
Shakespeare may have written A Midsummer Night’s Dream during the final months of 1594 to be
performed for the wedding celebrations of Earl William Stanley of Derby and
Elizabeth Vere. The wedding took place on January 26, 1595 at Greenwich Palace
in the presence of Queen Elizabeth.
The Comedy of Errors is performed at Gray’s Inn on December 28.
1595 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
?
Featuring Will Kemp as Bottom, with
Shakespeare possibly enacting either Theseus or Oberon
Richard II
?
Possibly starring Shakespeare in the
title role
Shakespeare collaborates on a script entitled Sir Thomas More. Three pages of it
scribbled in Shakespeare’s hand still exist, the only surviving example of one
of his original first drafts.
Thomas Kyd dies, never having recovered from the
tortures he suffered in prison.
The Swan playhouse is built by Francis Langley in the
Liberty of Paris Garden, Bankside. It is used for various entertainments, from
plays to prize fights.
A law is passed this year prohibiting the performance of
plays in innyards like the one at the Cross Keys on Gracechurch Street, which
had been a favorite of the Chamberlain’s Men.
1596 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
Romeo & Juliet
?
Starring Burbage as Romeo and
possibly featuring Shakespeare as either Friar Laurence or Mercutio
The Merchant of Venice
?
Starring Burbage as Shylock and
possibly featuring Shakespeare in the title role of Antonio
A letter written by novice playwright John Marston
remarks on Shakespeare’s popularity, noting that people quote lines from Romeo & Juliet in everyday
conversation.
A second edition of Willobie
His Avisa is published.
Edward III, possibly one of Shakespeare’s first plays, is published.
The
Lord Chamberlain Henry Lord Hunsdon dies on July 22, leaving Shakespeare’s
company without a patron. The Lord Mayor and the London City Council—dominated
by Puritans who regard playhouses as dens of iniquity—seize the opportunity to
close down the Theatre, England’s oldest playhouse. With neither a playhouse
nor the protection of a nobleman’s patronage, Shakespeare’s acting company is
suddenly out of business.
On
top of his business misfortunes, Shakespeare faces the death of his 11-year-old
son Hamnet on August 8.
King John may have been written (or
re-written) and first produced in late 1596. The scenes depicting the death of
the little boy Arthur and his mother’s grief are particularly poignant.
In
the fall, Shakespeare’s troupe reforms under the patronage of the new Lord
Hunsdon (George, the Chamberlain’s son) and temporarily resumes performing at
the Swan in Southwark. Shakespeare moves from Bishopsgate across the river to
Southwark, too, taking a room near the Bear Garden.
On
October 20, Shakespeare suddenly becomes a second-generation gentleman
overnight when, through Southampton’s influence and his own, his father is
finally granted that coat-of-arms for which he had longed so many years before.
In
November, the Justice of the Peace in Southwark tries to stop the Lord
Hunsdon’s Men from performing at the Swan. He sends his stepson William Wayte
to evict the players. There is an altercation outside the playhouse between
Wayte, his companions and several players, including Shakespeare.
The
Sheriff of Surrey issues an arrest warrant on November 29 which names Francis
Langley and Shakespeare among others, charging them with threatening Wayte’s
life. The matter is settled out of court—and in Shakespeare’s favor apparently,
as he and his company are performing at Whitehall for the Queen a month later.
It probably didn’t hurt that Shakespeare had recently acquired that
coat-of-arms and the social standing of a gentleman.
1597 Shakespeare’s
plays produced this year:
Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2
?
Starring Burbage as Prince Hal and,
perhaps, Shakespeare in the title role
The Merry Wives of Windsor
?
Possibly featuring Burbage as Frank
Ford
Much Ado About Nothing
?
Featuring Will Kemp as Dogberry, and
possibly starring Shakespeare as Benedick
Death of James Burbage, the father of Richard and of
modern theatre
King James of Scotland writes a book about his belief in
witchcraft and the supernatural. It will later provide inspiration for
Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Spain’s third attempt to invade England fails when their
latest Armada is shipwrecked.
The number of performances and the wide publication of
pirated editions indicate that Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Pts. 1 & 2 are huge hits. The character of Falstaff
is enormously popular. Surviving correspondence between Lady Southampton and
Sir Charles Percy refers to characters from these plays.
In
April, Lord George (Carey) Hunsdon is elevated to the office of Lord
Chamberlain, succeeding his late father. Thus Shakespeare’s troupe is once
again known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
On
his way to Stratford to close a real estate deal, Shakespeare probably passes
through Oxford. And he probably stays overnight at the Davenant’s inn. And he
probably can’t help but notice how charming Jane Davenant is, and what a lucky
man his friend John Davenant is to have such a wife.
Enriched by the success of his Henry IV plays, Shakespeare purchases a new home for his family on
May 4. Priced at ₤60, “New Place” is the second-largest house in
Stratford. His wife, children and his parents move in from the old house on
Henley Street, which is taken over by Shakespeare’s sister Joan and her
husband, a hatter named William Hart.
According
to tradition, Queen Elizabeth asks Shakespeare to write a new comedy that
depicts Falstaff in love—and she gives him only three weeks to do it. The
result, The Merry Wives of Windsor,
does appear to have been hastily written, and it is the only play of
Shakespeare’s with an entirely original plot. Some historians believe it was
first performed during a celebration at the installation of Knights of the
Garter held in May, 1597. At that particular ceremony, the patron of the
Chamberlain’s Men, the new Lord Hunsdon, was made a Knight of the Garter.
Ben
Jonson and Gabriel Spencer spend several months together in Fleet Prison due to
their performances in Thomas Nashe’s “lewd and seditious” The Isle of Dogs, produced at the Swan by Pembroke’s Company. In
the ensuing scandal the Privy Council closes all the playhouses in London and
even tries to have them demolished.
Leading man Ned Alleyn marries Philip Henslowe’s
stepdaughter and officially retires from the stage—a retirement that won’t last
long.
The
newly-revised Love’s Labor’s Lost is
given a command performance before Queen Elizabeth on Christmas Day, 1597.
1598 John
Florio publishes his Italian-English dictionary, A World of Words.
Francis Meres publishes his review of popular culture, Palladis Tamia: Wit’s Treasury, in which
he describes Shakespeare as one of England’s most gifted and promising
playwrights.
George Chapman, one of Shakespeare’s rivals, publishes
his English translation of The Iliad.
Marlowe’s final unfinished work, the poem Hero and Leander, is published for the
first time. Shakespeare makes oblique references to it—and arguably to
Marlowe’s murder as well—in his upcoming play As You Like It.
Some evidence suggests that Shakespeare may have
produced an early version of Hamlet
this year which was withdrawn after several performances.
On
the first of June, various books are labeled as “unseemly satires and epigrams”
in a series of “commandments” issued by Archbishop and chief censor John
Whitgift. On June 4, the books named in Whitgift’s commandments are publicly
burned in the yard of Stationers’ Hall (the official record office where
published works and approved plays are registered). The works of Thomas Nashe
are particularly singled out. His books, poems, plays and pamphlets are to “be
taken wheresoever they may be found” and destroyed, and none of his work shall
“be ever printed hereafter.” This marks the end of Nashe’s career, and he dies
in poverty two years later. Another work singled out for destruction is
Marlowe’s translation of Ovid’s erotic Elegies,
a.k.a. the Amores, to which
Shakespeare makes reference in his upcoming play As You Like It.
In
September, the Chamberlain’s Men stage Ben Jonson’s comedy Every Man In His Humour at the Curtain. Though it was considered
and passed over by Henslowe and the Admiral’s Men, Shakespeare and the
Chamberlain’s Men take the rejected script and turn it into Jonson’s first big
hit. The production stars Shakespeare as Old Knowles, Burbage as Mr. Kitely,
Christopher Beeston as Mrs. Kitely and Harry Condell as Captain Bobadil.
Jonson
quarrels with Gabriel Spencer, the actor with whom he had been imprisoned a
year earlier. They have a duel on September 22, and Jonson stabs Spencer to
death.
In
October, Jonson is indicted for murder at the Old Bailey and imprisoned at
Newgate. Within the month he beats the rap by claiming “benefit of clergy,” an
old law still on the books which grants a reprieve on a first offense to anyone
who can read Latin. Jonson is released, but not before being branded on the
thumb with a “T” for Tyburn, the site of the gallows, which identifies him as a
pardoned offender. (Some believe that Jonson may have only been threatened with
branding.) Immediately after this experience, Jonson converts to Catholicism, a
faith he renounces twelve years later.
In
November, Southampton is imprisoned in the Tower by Queen Elizabeth for having
impregnated and married one of her ladies-in-waiting without her knowledge and
approval. The Earl of Essex uses his influence to get Southampton released
within a month.