Happy Death Anniversary Shakespeare!
It’s four hundred years since we lost The Bard and it still smarts. Happy Death Anniversary Shakespeare!
He was born in April 1564 and shuffled off his mortal coil four hundred years ago. Despite so few details being known about him, pretty much everyone who has access to books in this world knows of him or of his works. To mark the anniversary of his passing, we revisit some of the facts that we do have.
William Shakespeare was baptised on 26th April 1564 at Holy Trinity in Stratford-Upon-Avon. His birthday is, however, celebrated three days earlier, on 23rd April. Today!
His Mum and Dad were John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. In 1556 John bought the main part of the house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. This is now known as the official ‘Birthplace’ and their family, including William, grew up there. Daddy Shakespeare was a well-off glover, who also dabbled as a wool and corn merchant as well as owning property in Stratford-upon-Avon which he later had to sell off after falling on hard times.
William was actually the eldest four boys, who probably attended a Stratford ‘petty’ or junior school, where he would have learnt his letters with the help of a hornbook. From an early age he would have moved on to learning Latin, which was the international language of Europe at that time.
Although unclear, Shakespeare would probably have left school at the age of 14 or 15, which was par for the course in those days. Soon after, in 1582 at the tender age of 18, Shakespeare married 26 year old Anne Hathaway. Their children were Susanna who was born in May 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, christened in February 1585. Anne’s house, now known as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, still stands to this day in the village of Shottery.
There then followed the ‘The Lost Years’ where little is known of what Willy was up to, apart from understanding that by 1592 he was in London where he was singled out by a rival dramatist, Robert Greene in his bitter deathbed pamphlet, A Groats-worth of Witte.
After the outbreak of plague in London in 1593, the closure of theatres turned Shakespeare to writing poetry. In 1593 he published an erotic poem, Venus and Adonis, dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth.
Shakespeare’s earliest plays included Henry VI Parts I, II & III, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus. The sonnets were also written about this time, though they were not published until 1609.
In 1594, Shakespeare became a founding member, actor, playwright and shareholder of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Richard Burbage was the company’s leading actor. He played roles such as Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and Lear. Under James VI/I, the company was renamed The King’s Men. They performed at court more often than any other company.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, and these are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime.
His success made him a pretty wealthy man for the period, and so in 1597, he bought New Place, one of the largest properties in Stratford. In 1601, when his father died, he would have probably inherited the two houses in Henley Street.
In addition to that property, in 1602 Shakespeare paid £320 in cash to William Combe and his nephew John for roughly 107 acres of land in Old Stratford. He also bought a cottage and more land in Chapel Lane. In 1605, for £440, Shakespeare bought a half-interest in a lease of many tithes which brought him an annual interest of £60. When he died in 1616, he was a man of considerable wealth.
So dust of those tomes and dig out those sonnets. Let’s celebrate the life, times and works of one the, if not the most famous literary people in History. If you didn’t see it first time round, you should also check out our blog piece comparing the original Hamlet to the 1996 film version. See if you agree.
Article by Prose Partner Paul. Please find him and check him out on theprosecom where he is @Pauldchambers and follow on Twitter where he is @MannersCost
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Originally published at blog.theprose.com on April 23, 2016.
