Shakespeare is believed to have been born on April 23rd 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon and to have died there 50 years later on the same date in 1616. That means that he was alive over 400 years ago; many records from the Elizabethan period were lost and so there aren’t a lot of certain facts on what was and what wasn’t for Shakespeare. What is known is that he was Baptiste in Stratford -upon-Avon (which is 100 miles Northwest of London) on April 26th 1564. His Baptism is what his birth is estimated from because he would have received it a few days after birth.
There is also evidence to support the fact that William Shakespeare grew up, had a family and bought property in Stratford-upon-Avon. His parents were John and Mary Shakespeare and he had 7 siblings. William was the oldest surviving child; the first two girls died during infancy. This left him with three younger brothers: Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. He also had two younger sisters: Anne (who dies at the age of 7) and Joan. His father was a soft letherworker and made garments such as gloves before becoming the town bailiff. He wasn’t the town bailiff for very long for unknown reasons and went out of view from the public eye. Shakespeare would have most likely attended Stratford’s grammer school because of his Father’s authority as a bailiff. In the school he would have attended Latin classes where he would have written, read and acted in the language. He would’ve left school around the age of 15 and met his wife Anne Hathaway at the age of 18 yrs, when she was 26 yrs old. During the time period, people usually got married later but Anne was pregnant and so an emergancy wedding took place.
Shakespeare continued to grow up in Stratford-upon-Avon, had a family there and later bought property there. However he didn’t work there because there wasn’t much oppertunity for careers in theatre; London was the land in which theatre thrived. Their first child, a girl, was born 6 months after the couple got married, followed by their two boys Judith and Hamnet (who died at the age of 11 yrs). Shakespeare was often away from Stratford-upon-Avon and became prosperous and well known in London mainly as a playwright although he did act and was the partner in a leading acting company. During his stays in London, he lives at St Helen’s, Paris Gardens and Silver Street althoguh was repetedly kicked out for not paying his taxes.
During his final years, Shakespeare went back to Stratford-upon-Avon and bought the largest property in the area for his family to live in.
Inspirations:
Shakespeare was inspired by many other classical authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), Plutarch (46-120 AD) and the Bible (Macbeth especially).
(Above information sourced from
http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/discovery-space/fact-sheets)
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