Most of the information about Shakespeare comes from his court records, his will, his marriage certificate and his tombstone (which states:" Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.", in other words curse whoever moves his bones).
Most of Shakespeare's work was produced between 1589 to 1613. His early plays mostly consisted of histories and comedies and his later plays were mostly tragedies that included Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Towards the end of his writing he mainly wrote "Tragicomedies" which in included plays such as The Tempest, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and The Winters Tale. Shakespeare was a respected and well known playwright in his own day but his reputation reached its known heights in the 19th Century
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and was the son of John Shakespeare, an Alderman and Glover, and Mary Arden, the daughter of a land owning farmer. The actual date of Shakespeare's birthday remains unknown, but it is often traditionally celebrated on the 23rd of April (St Georges day). Shakespeare was the 3rd child of eight and was the eldest surviving son. No attendance records for this period have survived, but most biographers agree that he was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford.
At the age of 18 Shakespeare got married to Anne Hathaway who was 26 at the time. The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on the 27th of November 1582. Around six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to her first daughter who was baptised 26th of may 1583. Twins Hamnet and Judith followed around 2 years later and were baptised 2nd of February 1585. Hamnet later died from unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried the 11th of August 1596. The 7 year period between 1585 to 1592 is often referred to as "The Lost Years for William Shakespeare as he left no historical traces for this amount of time.
It is not known exactly when Shakespeare started writing but his first play were on stage in London by 1592. By that time, he was well known for his "fued" with Playwright Robert Greene who was quoted to have said in his book Groats worth of wit:
" ...there is 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 a country."
From around 1594 Shakespeare's plays were being performed by a company called Lord Chamberlain's men, which soon became one of the lead companys in London. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new king James I. The company then changed its name to kings men.
In 1599 a partnership of company members built their own theatre on the southbank of the river Thames , which they called the globe. After 1606 and 1607 he Shakespeare wrote fewer plays and none are associated with him after 1613 in which John Fletcher took over as his successor in writing for the company. Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April 1616 and was survived by his wife and two daughters.
