A Shakespearean Timeline
1558 Elizabeth I crowned queen.
1564 William Shakespeare born in Stratford-upon-Avon, about 160km northwest of London (baptized April 26). John Shakespeare (Will’s father) was a maker of leather goods (including gloves, belts, purses) of very high quality, and rose to be the equivalent of mayor (high bailiff). Later suffers near bankruptcy and William is not educated beyond grammar school.
1572 Actors not under the protection of a patron declared rogues and vagabonds.
1576 “The Theatre,” the first public playhouse in London, opens.
1577 “The Curtain,” London’s second playhouse, opens.
1580 Francis Drake returns in triumph from his voyage around the world; travelling players perform at Stratford.
1582 Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway (eight years his senior); Susanna is born six months later and the twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585.
1585-1592Shakespeare’s “lost years.” Very little known about Will’s activities or whereabouts. Some suspect he was a tutor to an aristocratic family that was hiddenly Catholic.
1587 “The Rose” theatre opens in London.
1588 Spanish Armada defeated.
1589 Shakespeare likely working as an actor in London; he lives apart from his wife for 21 yrs.
1590-1The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew.
1592Robert Greene in his Groats-worth of Witte writes:
there is 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 beeing an absolute Johannes fac totum [jack-of-all-trades], is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.
(This is the first documentary evidence of Shakespeare’s activities since the birth of the twins; it highlights that he is becoming a force as an actor and playwright on the London stage, but also as a poet).
1592 Thousands die of plague in London; theatres closed.
1593 The Comedy of Errors.
A Shakespearean Timeline (cont’d)
1594 Shakespeare becomes a shareholder of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
1595 Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
1596 Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, dies.
1596-7King John, The Merchant of Venice, 1 Henry IV.
1597-8 The Merry Wives of Windsor, 2 Henry IV, Much Ado About Nothing.
1598 “The Globe” theatre built.
1598-9Julius Caesar.
1599-1600 As You Like It.
1600-1Hamlet, Twelfth Night.
1603Queen Elizabeth dies and is succeeded by James I (James VI of Scotland); Shakespeare’s theatre company becomes The King’s Men.
1603 Measure for Measure, Othello.
1604-5 All’s Well That Ends Well, Timon of Athens, King Lear (Q).
1606Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra.
1608Coriolanus.
1609The Winter’s Tale.
1610King Lear (F), Cymbeline.
1610Shakespeare retires to Stratford-upon-Avon, a very wealthy man.
1611The Tempest.
1611King James version of the bible published.
1613“The Globe” theatre burns down when a spark from a cannon on stage lights the straw roof. It is soon rebuilt.
1616Shakespeare dies in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23. Since this is also St. George’s Day (the patron saint of England), April 23 has also become the traditional birthday for Shakespeare in 1564.
1623The First Folio of Shakespeare’s collected plays is published.
1644The Puritans close down and demolish the second “Globe” theatre (all plays are banned).
1666Great Fire of London.
1997A reconstruction of “The Globe” built by Sam Wannamaker near the original site, the first building to use a thatched roof since the Great Fire of 1666.
*Some dates are approximate.