Historical Context - Question 2

Research Shakespeare's life- find out what his origins are, his family, his relationships, the world that he lived in and the questions surrounding his work (did he write all his plays? etc) 

Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His birth date is unknown, but he was christened on 26th April 1564. Shakespeare's father was a successful  was a glove-maker and wool trader and his mother was the daughter of a farmer. When Shakespeare was four, his father became the made mayor of Stratford. He was the third of eight children, however he grew up as the oldest because his two older sisters were killed by the plague, which wiped out plague killed about 200 people in Stratford in 1564. 

Shakespeare went to the grammer school in Startford, called King's New School. Education for boys consisted of learning to read, speak and write in Latin. They would also learn history by memorising and performing scenes from the past, helping him with his theatrical career. His father had financial and social difficulties, which meant that he had to be taken out of school when he was about 14 or 15.

When he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway who was 26 and the daughter of a local farmer. Six months after they were married, Anne gave birth to their daughter, Susanna, then two years later they had twins, Hamnet and Judith. For the first part of their married life, they would have lived in Shakespeare's house with his parents. Later they moved to New Place, a large house in Stratford, however Shakespeare spent most of his time away from them, in London. 

When Shakespeare was in London he started writing and by 1592, several of his plays had been put on stage, including Henry VI,  which was performed at the Rose theatre. He wrote 40 plays during his career. He had rival playwrights from more educated backgrounds, who thought he was reaching above his ranks. He also wrote poems and in 1906 he had a book of 154 sonnets published. He was also a part owner of a theatre company called 'The Lord Chamberlain’s Men' and by 1599, he partly owned the Globe theatre. 

After the year of 1913, he began to spend less time in London and more time in Stratford. He made a will and left everything to his daughter, saying that she should leave his estate to her first born son, but she never had a son. It isn't known exactly how Shakespeare died, but he was very sick and eventually died on the 23rd of April 1616. He is buried in Holy Trinity church in Stratford-Upon-Avon.