Shakespeare was known at the world’s greatest play writer. Everything known about him comes from church records, land titles and written opinions of other people. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/william_shakespeare.htm) Despite all his plays and his vast vocabulary he never actually attended a university of any kind. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm)
William Shakespeare was born in 1564. Though there is no proof of his specific birth date we can estimate it based on
the traditions of the time that he was born three days prior
to his baptism which was recorded as Wednesday, April 26, 1564. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/
shakespeare_biography.htm)
Shakespeare was born in Stratford on Avon. His father was John Shakespeare and his mother was Mary Arden. (http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/)
He was the third eldest of his parent’s children. He had 7 siblings but only Judith and four of his brothers lived to adulthood. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/
shakespeare_biography.htm)
In 1582 William was married to Ann Hathwey of Stratford under the bishop of Worcester. The wedding was rushed and the banns were only asked for once because Ann was already three months pregnant. (http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/timeline.htm)
The wedding took place in a city about five miles from Stratford at Temple Grafton. William was only eighteen years old but Ann was twenty six years old. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/william_shakespeare.htm) Their first daughter was baptized on May 26, 1583 and was named Susanna. Two years later they had twins which they named Hamnet and Judith after friends of William. All together they had eight children. Hamnet died at age eleven, Judith at age seventy-seven, and Susana at age sixty six. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm)
About four years after his marriage he left the small town
of Stratford on Avon to go to London in 1586. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/william_shakespeare.htm)
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, ironically the same day his birthday is estimated to be. (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shakespearebio.html)
Two days after his death he was burned at the channel of the Holy Trinity Church. His tombstone read “Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, to dig the dust enclosed heare. bleste be Ye man Yt spares thes stones, and Curst be he Yt moves my bones.
(http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/timeline.htm)
Susana obtained a majority of his fortune when he died. He was fifty two when he passed away. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm)
Despite all of Shakespeare’s works he did not sell any of them. In fact his greatest source of income came from his purchasing and leasing real estate near Stratford. For his real estate he spent four hundred and forty pounds. The money he got back was nearly double that as well as gave him sixty pounds of income each year. (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/
shakespeare_biography.htm)