Timeline Summary

Online Shakespeare

Contents The Life and Times of William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Timeline Chart

Year	Shakespeare's Family's Life	Compositions ¹	Other Events & Publications
1558	Shakespeare's sister Joan baptised 15 Sept
1562	Shakespeare's sister Margaret baptised 22 Dec
1564	Birth of William 23 April Baptised in Stratford church 26 April		Christopher Marlowe born 6 Feb John Hawkins second voyage to New World Galileo Galilei born John Calvin dies The Peace of Troyes
1565 -1581	Shakespeare's brother Gilbert baptised 13 Oct. 1566 Shakespeare's sister Anne baptised 28 Sept. 1571 Shakespeare's brother Richard baptised 11 March 1574 Shakespeare's brother Edmund baptised 3 May 1580		1565 Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1-4) 1566 Gascoigne's The Supposes c.1567 Richard Burbage born 1567 Thomas Nashe born 1571 Tirso de Molina born 1572 Thomas Dekker born 1572 John Donne & Ben Jonson born 1576 James Burbage (father of Richard) obtains lease & permission to build The Theatre in Shoreditch 1577 Holinshed publishes The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, Shakespeare's primary source for the history plays 1577 The Curtain, a rival theatre near The Theatre, opens in Finbury 1579 John Fletcher born 1580 Thomas Middleton born 1580 Montaigne's Essais published
1582	Marriage to Anne Hathaway 28 Nov		Hakluyt's Dievers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America
1583	Birth of daughter Susanna - baptised 26 May		The Queen's Company formed in London
1585	Birth of twins, Judith and Hamnet - baptised 2 Feb		1586 Mary Queen of Scots tried for treason
c.1587 - 1592	Departure from Stratford Establishment in London as an actor/playwright Shakespeare's father is fined for missing church 25 Dec 1592	The Comedy of Errors Titus Andronicus The Taming of the Shrew Henry VI Parts1,2,3 Richard III	1587 Mary Queen of Scots executed 1587 Marlowe's Tamburlaine 1588 Defeat of the Armada 1588 Greene's Pandosto 1588 Marlowe's Dr. Faustus 1590 Spenser's Faerie Queen (1-3) 1590 Marlowe's The Jew of Malta 1591 Sidney'sAstrophil and Stella 1592 Robert Greene dies 1592 Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy
1593	Preferment sought through aristocratic connections - dedicates Venus and Lucrece to Henry Wriothsley, Earl of Southampton	Venus and Adonis registered 18 April1593 Begins writing the Sonnets, probably completed by c.1597 or earlier Two Gentlemen of Verona Love's Labour's Lost	1593 - 94 theatres closed by plague 1593 Marlowe dies 30 May
1594	The Lord Chamberlain's Company formed	Titus Andronicus first performed 24 Jan. (Registered 6 Feb) Henry VI, Part 2 registered 12 March The Rape of Lucrece registered 9 May Comedy of Errors first performed at Gray's Inn 28 Dec
1594 - 1596	The Lyrical masterpieces Prosperity and recognition as the leading London playwright 1596 John Shakespeare applies successfully for a coat of arms 1596 Hamnet Shakespeare dies at age 11 (11 Aug)	Midsummer Night's Dream Romeo and Juliet Richard II Merchant of Venice	1594 Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay 1594 Marlowe's Edward II 1595 Thomas Kyd dies 1595 Sidney's An Apologia for Poetrie 1595 Sir Walter Raleigh explores the Orinoco 1596 Spenser's Faerie Queen (4-6) 1596 George Peele dies
1597 - 1599	Artistic Maturity Purchased New Place, Stratford 4 May 1597 The Globe shareholders sign lease to build the theatre 21 Feb 1599	Henry IV Pats1 & 2 The Merry Wives of Windsor As You Like It Much Ado About Nothing Henry V Julius Caesar Richard II registered 29 Aug1597 Richard III registered 20 Oct 1597 The Merchant of Venice registered 22 July 1598 Henry IV, Part 1 registered 25 Feb. 1598 Julius Caesar first performed at Globe Theatre	1597 Bacon's Essays, Civil and Moral 1598 Phillip II of Spain dies 1598 Francis Meres Palladis Tamia 1598 John Florio's A World of Words (English-Italian dictionary) 1598 Ben Jonson 's Every Man in his Humour 1599 Essex sent to Ireland and fails; is arrested on return 1599 Edmund Spenser dies
1600 - 1608	The Period of the Great Tragedies & Problem Plays 1600 The Fortune Theatre opens 1601 Shakespeare's father dies. Buried 8 Sept 1603 The Lord Chamberlain's Men become The King's Men who perform at court more than any other company 1607 Susanna Shakespeare married Dr John Hall, a physician 5 June 1607 Shakespeare's brother Edmund buried 31 Dec. 1608 The King's Men begin playing at the Blackfriars 1608 Shakespeare's mother dies. Buried 9 Sept. Shakespeare is named as godfather to William Walker 16 Oct 1608	Twelfth Night Hamlet Troilus & Cressida Alls Well That Ends Well Measure for Measure Othello King Lear Macbeth Antony and Clepatra Coriolanus Timon of Athens Much Ado About Nothing is "to be staied" on the register and registered for publication 4 Aug 1600 Henry IV Part 2 registered 23 Aug 1600 A Midsummer Night's Dream is registered 8 Oct. 1600 Richard II first performed 7 Feb 1601 The Merry Wives of Windsor registered 8 Jan. 1602 Twelfth Night first performed 2 Feb. 1602 Troilus and Cressida first performed 7 Feb 1604	1600 Kemp's Nine Daies Wonder 1600 Dekker's Shoemaker's Holiday 1601 Essex rebels against Elizabeth, fails and is executed 1601 Thomas Nashe dies 1603 Elizabeth dies 24 March; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh arrested, tried and imprisoned 1603 The plague again ravages London 1604 Marston's The Malcontent 1605 The Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes and accomplices arrested 1605 Bacon's The Advancement of Learning Rembrandt born 15 July 1606 1606 Ben Jonson's Volpone
1609 - 1611	Period of the Romances 1609 Publication of the Sonnets 20 May	Pericles Prince of Tyre Cymbeline The Winter's Tale The Tempest The Tempest performed at Court 1 Nov 1611 The Winter's Tale performed at Court 5 Nov 1611	1609 Beaumont & Fletcher The Knight of the Burning Pestle 1610 Prince Henry created Prince of Wales Ben Jonson The Alchemist
1612 - 1670	Shakespeare probably retires from London life to Stratford & collaborates with John Fletcher Shakespeare's younger brother Gilbert buried 3 Feb 1612 Shakespeare's younger brother Richard buried 4 Feb 1613 1616 Judith Shakespeare married Thomas Quiney Judith marries Thomas Quiney 10 Feb 1616 25 March 1616 Shakespeare apparently ill. Revises his will 23 April 1616 Shakespeare dies. Buried at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford 26 April 1616 Anne Hathaway dies 6 Aug 1623 Richard Quiney, Shakespeare's grandson aged 21, buried 28 Jan 1639 Elizabeth Hall Nash Barnard dies 17 Feb 1670 (Shakespeare's last descendant)	Henry VIII The Two Noble Kinsmen Cardenio Globe Theatre burns down during Henry VIII performance 29 June 1613	1612 Henry Prince of Wales dies 1612 Webster's The White Devil 1613 Francis Bacon beomces arrorney general 1614 Jonson's Bartholomew Fayre 1614 Webster's Duchess of Malfi 1614 Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World 1616 Francis Beaumont dies 1616 Ben Jonson's Workes published in folio 1623 Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio 2 Sept 1666 Great Fire Of London

1. Because of the difficulty of dating Shakespeare's plays and the lack of conclusive facts about his writings, these dates are approximate and can be used only as a convenient framework in which to discuss his development. In all periods, the plots of his plays were frequently drawn from chronicles, histories, or earlier fiction, as were the plays of other contemporary dramatists ( see also 'The Works' )

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