For as popular as William Shakespeare is there is a limited amount of resources about him, he still remains a mysterious figure with regards to his personal history. We have only two primary sources of information about William Shakespeare which are his works and various documents from a church.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. This is not a guarantee this is only a guess, because most children get baptized three days after their birth, and there are records saying that Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564. According to the church records William was the 3rd of eight children born in the Shakespeare family.

There is a great dispute in Shakespeare's childhood years, mainly in his education. Some Historians say that Shakespeare attended a free grammar school. But there are no records to prove this, but Williams knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would support this theory. Because we have no records of this we don't know how long Shakespeare attended school, but the quality of his work shows a fairly solid education.

Shakespeare then got married to a woman by the name of Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. At the time Shakespeare was only 18 years old, and Anne was 26. Their first daughter was born on May 26, 1583 and was named Susanna. About three years later they had twins named Hamnet and Judith, who where born on February 2, 1585. Eleven years later Hamnet died.

By the early 1590's Shakespeare got himself firmly established in the theater. By 1599 Shakespeare and his family was granted a coat of arms and the playwright was entitled to sign himself. "William Shakespeare, Gent" Then Shakespeare's financial status was rapidly improving, and the family bought a big house in Stratford and the frequently bought other property in both Stratford and London. His success also allowed him to retire in comfort in 1611.

Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616.

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