| Year |
Age |
Life |
Literary Works |
Historical Events |
| 1564 |
|
Shakespeare Born (Apr.23) |
|
Christopher Marlowe born |
| |
|
Shakespeare Baptised (Apr.26) |
|
John Hawkins second voyage to New World |
| |
|
|
|
Galileo Galilei born |
| |
|
|
|
John Calvin dies |
| |
|
|
|
The Peace of Troyes |
| 1565 |
1 |
|
|
Golding's 'translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses'
(1-4) |
| 1566 |
2 |
|
|
Gascoigne's 'The Supposes' |
| 1567 |
3 |
Richard Burbage, the greatest tragedian of the
age, who would eventually portray Hamlet, Lear, Othello and all
Shakespeare's great parts born |
|
Thomas Nashe born |
| 1571 |
7 |
|
|
Tirso de Molina born |
| 1572 |
8 |
|
|
Thomas Dekker born |
| |
|
|
|
John Donne & Ben Jonson born |
| 1576 |
12 |
James Burbage (father of Richard) obtains a 21
year lease and permission to build The Theatre in Shoreditch |
|
The Theatre opens |
| 1577 |
13 |
The Curtain, a rival theater near The Theatre,
opens in Finbury |
|
Holinshed publishes 'The
Chronicles of England, Scotland
and Ireland', Shakespeare's
primary source for the history plays |
| |
|
|
|
Sir Francis Drake sets sail on his circumnavigation
of the world |
| |
|
|
|
Curtain Theate opens |
| |
|
|
|
Peter Paul Rubens Born |
| 1579 |
15 |
|
|
John Fletcher born |
| 1580 |
16 |
|
|
Thomas Middleton born |
| |
|
|
|
Montaigne's Essays
published |
| 1582 |
18 |
Shakespeare granted a license to marry Anne Whateley
(Nov.27). |
|
Hakluyt's 'Dievers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America' |
| |
|
The same register records a marriage bond issued
to William Shagspere and Anne Hathwey. (Nov.28)
|
|
|
| 1583 |
19 |
Birth of daughter Susanna |
|
|
| |
|
Susanna baptised in Stratford Church (May.26) |
|
|
| |
|
The Queen's Company is formed in London |
|
|
| 1585 |
21 |
Birth of twins, Judith and Hamnet (Jan.31) |
|
|
| |
|
Judith and Hamnet Baptised in Stratford Church
(Feb.2) |
|
|
| 1586 |
22 |
|
|
Mary Queen of Scots tried for treason |
| |
|
|
|
Sir Philip Sydney dies |
| 1587 |
23 |
Departure from Stratford |
The Comedy of Errors |
Mary Queen of Scots executed |
| |
|
Establishment in London as an actor/playwright |
Titus Andronicus |
Marlowe's 'Tamburlaine
' |
| |
|
|
|
Rose Theate opens |
| 1588 |
24 |
|
The Taming of the Shrew |
Defeat of the Armada |
| |
|
|
Henry VI, 1,2,3 |
Greene's 'Pandosto' |
| |
|
|
Richard III |
Marlowe's 'Dr. Faustus' |
| 1589 |
25 |
Shakespeare's name appears in a legal document
along with his parents against a neighbour over a land dispute |
|
Richard Hakluyt's 'Voyages' published |
| 1590 |
26 |
|
|
Spenser's 'Faerie Queen'
(1-3) |
| |
|
|
|
Marlowe's 'The Jew of Malta' |
| 1591 |
27 |
|
|
Sidney's ' Astrophil and Stella' |
| 1592 |
28 |
|
|
Robert Greene dies |
| |
|
|
|
Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy |
| 1593 |
29 |
Preferment sought through aristocratic connections
- dedicates Venus and Lucrece to Henry Wriothsley, Earl of Southampton
- possibly the youth of the sonnets |
Venus and Adonis |
1593-94 Theaters closed by plague |
| |
|
|
Begins writing the Sonnets,
probably completed by c.1597 or
earlier |
Marlowe dies |
| |
|
|
Two Gentlemen of Verona |
|
| |
|
|
Love's Labour's Lost |
|
| |
|
|
(1593-94) Titus Adronicus |
|
| 1594 |
30 |
Founding member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men |
The Rape of Lucrece |
Marlowe's 'Edward II ' |
| |
|
The Lyrical masterpieces |
Midsummer Night's Dream |
Greene's 'Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay' |
| |
|
|
Romeo and Juliet |
|
| 1595 |
31 |
Prosperity and recognition as the leading London
playwright. |
Richard II |
Thomas Kyd dies |
| |
|
Shakespeare, along with two other
actors, recieves payment from the treasurer of the royal chamber
for "two comedies or interludes" played before the queen
several months earlier. He is now presumably in London (March.15) |
Merchant of Venice |
Sidney's 'An Apologia for Poetrie' |
| |
|
John Shakespeare reapplies successfully for a coat
of arms |
|
Sir Walter Raleigh explores the Orinoco |
| |
|
|
|
Swan Theatre opens |
| |
|
|
|
Sir Francis Drakes last expedition begins |
| 1596 |
32 |
Hamnet Shakespeare dies at age 11 (Aug.11) |
|
Spenser's Faerie Queen (4-6) |
| |
|
A Mr.William Wayte, files a legal document against
Shakespeare and three others for "fear of death" (Nov.29). |
|
George Peele dies. |
| |
|
|
|
Rene Descartes born |
| 1597 |
33 |
Artistic Maturity |
|
Bacon's Essays, Civil and Moral |
| |
|
Shakespeare buys a mansion with gardens in Stratford
(with other significant investments) for 60 pounds. It is the second
largest house in Stratford (May.4) |
|
|
| 1598 |
34 |
Shakespeare's name heads the list of principle
actors in a production of Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humor."
In this year, Shakespear's name begins appearing on the titles of
many plays. |
The Merry Wives of Windsor |
Phillip II of Spain dies |
| |
|
|
As You Like It |
Francis Meres 'Palladis
Tamia' |
| |
|
|
Much Ado About Nothing |
John Florio's 'A World
of Words'
(English-Italian dictionary) |
| |
|
|
Henry V |
Ben Jonson 's 'Every
Man in his Humour' |
| |
|
|
Henry IV,1,2 |
|
| 1599 |
35 |
The Globe Theater built on Bankside
from the timbers of The Theatre. Theate is recorded as having tenants
"Richard Burbage and William Shackespeare, Gent". Shakespeare
receives about 10% of the profits, and holds interests in the theate
until at least 1611. |
Julius Caesar |
Essex sent to Ireland and fails, is
arrested on return |
| |
|
|
|
Edmund Spenser dies |
| 1600 |
36 |
The Period of the Great Tragedies & Problem
Plays |
Twelfth Night |
Kemp's 'Nine Daies Wonder' |
| |
|
|
Hamlet |
Dekker's 'Shoemaker's Holiday' |
| |
|
|
Troilus & Cressida |
Fortune Theate opens |
| |
|
|
|
Pedro Calderon born |
| 1601 |
37 |
Shakespeare pays 320 pounds for 107 acres of arable
land on the common pasture near Stratford. He also buys a cottage
across from his house (May.1) |
Alls Well That Ends Well |
Essex rebels against Elizabeth, fails and is executed |
| |
|
Shakespeare's father dies |
Measure for Measure |
Thomas Nashe dies |
| |
|
|
Othello |
|
| 1603 |
39 |
A Royal Patent is given to 9 actors
and their associates, among them William Shakespeare, which althorises
them to perform plays at the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare's name appears
in the list of princliple comedians in another of Jonson's plays
(May.19) |
King Lear |
Queen Elizabeth 1 dies, King James
VI of Scotland becomes James I of England |
| |
|
The Lord Chamberlain's Men become The King's Men
who perform at court more than any other company |
Macbeth |
Sir Walter Raleigh arrested, tried and imprisoned |
| |
|
|
Antony and Clepatra |
The plague once again ravages London |
| 1604 |
40 |
Nine players, including Shakespeare, are given
red cloth by the Great Wardrobe, to make liveries for participating
in the coronation procession of King James (March.15) |
|
Marston's 'The Malcontent' |
| |
|
The production of Shakespeare's plays are at their
height, however, Shakespeare appears to be chiefly in Stratford
from this date on |
|
|
| 1605 |
41 |
|
|
The Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes and accomplices
arrested |
| |
|
|
|
Bacon's 'The Advancement of Learning' |
| 1606 |
42 |
|
|
Rembrandt born |
| |
|
|
|
Ben Jonson's 'Volpone' |
| |
|
|
|
Virginia settled |
| 1607 |
43 |
Susanna Shakespeare married Dr. John Hall |
Coriolanus |
Tourneur (?) The Revenger's
Tragedy |
| |
|
|
Timon of Athens |
|
| 1608 |
44 |
The King's Men begin playing at the Blackfriars |
(1604-05) Othello |
John Milton Born |
| |
|
Shakespeare sues for a debt of six pounds against
John Adden broke. |
|
|
| |
|
Shakespeare takes one-seventh share of Blackfriars
Theatre (Oct.19) |
|
|
| |
|
Shakespeare's mother dies |
|
|
| 1609 |
45 |
Period of the Romances |
Pericles Prince of Tyre |
Beaumont & Fletcher 'The
Knight of the Burning Pestle' |
| |
|
Publication of the Sonnets |
Cymbeline |
|
| 1610 |
46 |
Shakespeare buys 20 acres of land near Stratford |
The Winter's Tale |
Prince Henry created Prince of Wales |
| |
|
|
The Tempest |
Ben Jonson 'The Alchemist' |
| 1611 |
47 |
|
|
King James Bible published |
| 1612 |
48 |
Shakespeare probably retires from London life to
Stratford |
Henry VIII |
Henry Prince of Wales dies |
| |
|
Works on collaborations with John Fletcher |
The Two Noble Kinsmen |
Webster's 'The White Devil' |
| 1613 |
49 |
First Globe Theate burns down |
Cardenio |
Francis Bacon becomes attorney general |
| 1614 |
50 |
|
|
Jonson's Bartholomew Fayre |
| |
|
|
|
Webster's 'Duchess of Malfi' |
| |
|
|
|
Sir Walter Raleigh's 'History
of the World' |
| 1616 |
52 |
Judith Shakespeare married Thomas Quiney |
|
Miguel de Cervantes dies |
| |
|
25 January/March 1616 After revisions,
Shakespeare's will is signed by him in three places. It leaves most
of his estate to his elder daughter, Susanna. The will gives his
"second best" bed to his wife |
|
Francis Beaumont dies |
| |
|
April 23, 1616 Shakespeare dies and
is buried two days later at the Holy trinity Church, Stratford.
His name does not appear on the stone over his grave. His supposed
tombstone, preserved to this day reads: "Good friend for Iesus
Sake forbare, To digg the dust encloased heare: Blest ye be man
yt spares thes stones, And curst be he yet moves my bones. |
|
Ben Jonson's Workes
published in folio |
| 1617 |
|
|
|
Acendancy of George Williams, 1st duke of Buckingham
begins |
| 1618 |
|
|
|
30 years war begins |
| 1620 |
|
|
|
Pilgrims reach Plymouth |
| 1623 |
|
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio |
|
Blaise Pascal born |