top of page
Search

Timeline: A Brief Look at Shakespeare's Life

Shakespeare lived during major historical events in the Eastern and Western worlds. Here's a timeline with significant moments in history and in Shakespeare’s life and literary career.


A BRIEF HISTORY OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE (AND THE WORLD) 1564: Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. 1568:  The Eighty-Years' War begins. 1571: Shakespeare likely attended grammar school at the King Edward VI School in Stratford. 1575:  The Battle of Nagashino, Japan's first major gun battle, takes place in the Mikawa Province.  1582: Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway. 1585: Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, is settled by the first English colonists in America. 1594: Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's first published play. 1603:  Death of Queen Elizabeth I; succession of King James VI. 1606: Shakespeare writes Macbeth. 1608: King Lear is published.  1609: Johannes Kepler publishes his Laws of Planetary Motion, which explained the movement of the planets around the sun. 1616:  Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. 1618: The Thirty Years' War begins. 1623: All's Well That Ends Well is published.


Sources:

King Edward VI School, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Royal Collection Trust, ThoughtCo., The Japan Times, Shakespeare Documented, HISTORY, Columbia College, NASA, Oxford Reference, Folgerpedia, Royal Shakespeare Company.



bottom of page