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1564 - 1616
In his will, he left his wife his "second-best“ bed.
He was said to have enjoyed playing the part of the ghost in Hamlet.
Boys and men played all the parts in Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan times, even the role of Juliet.
Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, such as “buzzer”, “label”, “luggage” and “lonely”
A laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor) A sorry sight (Macbeth) As dead as a doornail (Henry VI) Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2) Fair play (The Tempest) I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello) In a pickle (The Tempest) In stitches (Twelfth Night) In the twinkling of an eye (The Merchant Of Venice) Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2) Neither here nor there (Othello) Send him packing (Henry IV) Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV) There's method in my madness (Hamlet) Too much of a good thing (As You Like It) Vanish into thin air (Othello)
According to research from the National Year of Reading, showing a knowledge of Shakespeare is the second-most-likely way to impress your date.
(Apparently, having read The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela is first!)
1564 - 1616
Her reign (1533-1603) is often called “The Golden Age of England”
There were few records, but the baptismal registry for Shakespeare still exists. He was baptized on April 26, 1564. Tradition called for a baby to be baptized three days after birth.
Facsimile of registrar of baptism—Reads “William son of John Shakesper”
John Shakespeare was a successful businessman (a glove-maker).
He also served in various government positions in Stratford-on-Avon, including alderman, bailiff, councilman and constable.
He owned a large house on Henley Street where his son was born.
Mary Arden was the youngest daughter of an influential and wealthy family.
She inherited her father’s farm in 1556.
King’s New Grammar School in Stratford taught boys basic reading and writing, as well as Latin, the classics and rhetoric. It is assumed that William attended this school, as did all boys from good families.
There is no evidence that he had further education.
Average life expectancy at birth for English people in the late 16th/early 17th centuries was just under 40 –39.7 years, due to the high rate of infant mortality.
For example, a common remedy for an earache was to put a roasted onion in the ear. To cure a stye, a person was supposed to rub his eye with the tail of a black tomcat.
Medicine was primitive
Disease was widespread, largely because of the lack of sanitation. The streets of cities, towns, and villages were open sewers where people threw out garbage and emptied chamber pots. The streets became a perfect breeding ground for rats, lice, fleas, viruses, diseases, and germs.
One of the biggest killers of Elizabethan times was the Plague, or "Black Death,"
• Began in the early 1330s. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people
• The disease causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black. People with the disease often develop a purplish tinge to their skin as they grow sicker..
• The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often "ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.”
• In winter the disease seemed to disappear, each spring, the plague attacked again. After the first five years of the plague, 25 million people were dead--one-third of Europe's people.
• During an outbreak of the plague, city-dwellers would try to escape to the countryside to avoid it.
All Elizabethans enjoyed theater. Even those in the countryside would attend the shows of traveling actors or puppeteers. Shakespeare may have first been exposed to theater by attending the performance of a traveling troupe that performed in the Guild Hall at Stratford during his youth.
Clean straw was usually strewn under the dining table in the great halls. Guests would then toss bones and garbage onto the straw as they dined. After the feast, fresh straw was spread to cover the remains of the meal. Archaeologists have excavated multiple layers of this straw and garbage representing hundreds of years of dining in old castles.
• First CourseMiniature pastries filled with cod liver or beef marrowA cameline meat "brewet," pieces of meat in a thin cinnamon sauceBeef marrowfrittersEels in a thick spicy pureeLoach in cold-green sauce flavored with spices and sageLarge cuts of roast or boiled meatSaltwater fish
• Second CourseFrumenty(hulled wheat boiled in milk, with flavored sugar and spices)Freshwater fishBroth with baconA meat tileCapon pasties and crispsBream and eel pastiesBlancmange
• Third CourseVenisonLampreys with hot sauceFrittersJelliesRoast bream and darioles(a dariole is a small cream tart
• with puff pastry, in a circular mold)Sturgeon
• DessertSpiced wine (for digestion)Wafers
•
• Every season of the year had special days, such Shrove Tuesday, Mayday, Easter, Midsummer’s Eve, various Saints’ Days, harvest festivals and the winter holidays which began with Christmas and ended on Twelfth Night.
• Activities included feasts and carnivals with bell ringing, masking, gaming, ducking for apples, dancing, and bonfires.
A bond certificate shows that William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November the 28th, 1582.
William Shakespeare was eighteen year old and Anne was twenty-six and pregnant.
The Hathaway Family Cottage
Six months after the Shakespeares were married, Susanna was born in May, 1583.
Baptism records reveal that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1585. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, just eleven years old.
No records for Shakespeare exist between 1585 and 1592. That period is called “The Lost Years”.
The earliest written record of Shakespeare's life in London comes from a statement by the rival playwright Robert Greene who in 1592, wrote that Shakespeare was an "upstart crow...[who] supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you“—showing he already provoked jealousy!
During the 1590’s there were several virulent outbreaks of the plague which caused all public places, including theaters, to be closed.
During this time, when Shakespeare was forced to take a break from writing and performing in plays, he wrote nearly all of his sonnets.
In 1594, Shakespeare became a charter member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men—a group of actors who changed their name to the King's Men when James I ascended to the throne.
By 1598, he was the "principal comedian" for the troupe; by 1603, he was "principal tragedian."
The Globe Theatre in London was where most of William Shakespeare's plays
were first presented.
•The Globe Theater •was the most •magnificent theatre that London had ever seen when it was completed in 1599.
•Shares in the theater were divided among members of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which eventually made Shakespeare a wealthy man.
The theatre itself was a closed structure with an open courtyard where the stage stood.
Tiered galleries around the open area accommodated the wealthier patrons who could afford seats.
The lower classes or “groundlings” stood in the open, uncovered area around the stage.
The Globe was shaped like a drum with a thatched gallery roof which was make of straw. The roof had to be coated with a special fire retardant to protect it from cannons and other fiery special effects.
The Globe is thought to have been capable of accommodating fairly large crowds - perhaps as many as 2,000 people - during a performance.
• a “Tiring House” which was the dressing room. It had two large doors from which to enter and exit.
• space under and behind the stage used for special effects and storage.
• an upper stage, like a balcony with windows & a curtain hanging from it to serve as another entrance.
• trap doors for the appearance of ghosts, witches or devils, or to simulate a grave.
bones, intestines & blood of animals blood-soaked handkerchief blood-filled pig bladder exploded at proper time cannon, fireworks, smoke music, chimes, bells, drums wires, ropes, harnesses furniture & other props such as flowers, swords,
skulls, etc.
After Queen Elizabeth’s death, her cousin James ascended to the throne. Thus in 1603, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men became known as The King’s Men with patronage from King James I.
Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1613.
He had become quite wealthy due to some very lucrative real estate investments in Stratford.
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 at the age of 52.
His last surviving descendant was his grand-daughter Elizabeth Barnard, daughter of Susanna
Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
