The Tragedy of King Richard II

Theatre 250/376 Seminar Fall 2008
Shakespeare's Life

Although we actually know more about Shakespeare any other literary figure of his period, relatively little is known about William Shakespeare's life (1564-1616):

• He was not as notorious a character as many of his contemporaries, such as Marlowe or Jonson.
• Barely fifty occurrences of his name in print and only six extant examples of his handwriting — all in the form of his signatures.
• Extant primary materials includes his will; municipal and parish records (in London and Stratford); a number of legal and commercial contracts and court documents.
• Very few biographies were written at this time and rarely for lowly dramatists.
• There are references to Shakespeare in the official documents of the court of James I.
• There are contemporary references about Shakespeare and his plays in the writings of Robert Greene, William Camden, Frances Meres, Henry Chettle, Ben Jonson, John Davies, etc.
• When the theatres were closed by the Puritans (1642-1660) many written records were lost.
• There are no extant manuscripts that were definitely handwritten by Shakespeare himself and we have none of his letters, diaries, theatre documents, drafts, essays, etc. The manuscript for the play Sir Thomas More (not credited to Shakespeare) is written by four different people, the fourth of which is believed to have been Shakespeare. If this proves true, it will be the only example of his own writing.

Any attempts to glean biographical information from Shakespeare's plays and poetry should be cautious. One of the remarkable aspects of his writings is the fact that it is so difficult to ascertain the true nature of the man behind the words.

1564 - 1590: Shakespeare's Early Life in Stratford-Upon-Avon

• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a rural town north of London. It was known as a a market center for the county of Warwickshire.
• The name Shakespeare (or varients such as Shaksper, Shakespey, Scakespeire, Shakstaf, etc.) has been in Warwickshire since the middle of the 13th century.
• The third of eight children to glovemaker (cured and dressed horse, goat, deer, sheep and dog skin), money lender, and wool, barley and timber dealer, John Shakespeare and his wife, Mary Arden (married in 1557). He was born during a period when the plague had struck Stradford. He was their first son and the first that survived infancy.

• According to parish records, he was christened on April 26th, 1564 and we assume that he was therefore likely born on April 23rd (traditional birth date of St. George, the patron saint of England and, as it turned out, the date of Shakespeare's death). He was baptised into the Church of England. Since the United Kingdom did not accept the "Papist" Gregorian calendar until 1752, April 23rd of 1564 would actually be May 3rd on the modern calendar.

• John Shakespeare, William's father, was a reasonably wealthy landowner (two houses) and in 1567 he served as Borough Ale-Taster, then distinguished alderman, and finally, as High Bailiff, the highest elected official office in Stratford. By 1578, only two years after be granted the rank of gentleman (which he refused at the last minute), he had become a debtor mortgaging one property (his wife's), and selling a share in another. In 1580 he was judged as "malcontent" and was fined. In 1586 he lost his seat as alderman and in 1592 he was listed among those who failed to attend church, attempting to avoid his debtors. However, even in his most difficult times, he was known to be a merry man.
• Mary Arden, William's mother, was the daughter of a fairly wealthy landowner (Robert Arden) with some connections to an aristocratic family.
• At five, William would have likely attended two years of petty school (taught by an "abecedarius"), and then grammar school (perhaps the King’s Free School) where he would have received a free education as the son of a burgess father. There, for forty four weeks a year, five and a half days a week for eleven hours a day, he was taught by Oxford graduates (possibly Simon Hunt, Robert Dibdale, and Thomas Jenkins) and studied Latin and rudimentory Greek, literature (including Plautus, Terence, and Seneca, Horace and Vergil, Caesar, Livy, Cicero, the orator, Quintilian, and the poet, Ovid), rhetoric (including the ancient Roman, Cicero), and Christian ethics (including a working knowledge of the Holy Bible (Geneva Version), the Homilies, and the Church of England Book of Common Prayer, all taught in English). Boys normally attended grammar school until age fourteen to sixteen, but William may have been removed from school a bit earlier because of his father's financial problems. He may have performed in some Greek and Latin classical drama as entertainment at the end of term.
• Later in life he became very familiar with a number of important books, including: Holingshed's Chronicles, Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays, and North's translation of Plutarch's Lives.

  
A "Hornbook" (paper on wood covered with transparent horn) used in petty school. "Absey," or "ABC books" were then used

  
The type if Bible used in grammar school

• Church attendance was manditory
• Probably learned his father's craft of dressing skins and making gloves
• No record of his having attended a university
• In November of 1582 eighteen year old William married twenty-six year old Anne Hathaway (1556-1623), apparently out of necessity since their daughter, Susanna, was born barely six months later in May, 1583. However, it should be noted that couples of all classes commonly lived together during the period between betrothal and marriage.

• Anne was the eldest daughter of a family from Shottery, on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon.

• The twins, Hamnet and Judith, were born in January of 1585.

• It has been surmised that Shakespeare served as a tutor in neighboring communities and may have joined a visiting troupe of actors.
• In his will, an Alexander Hoghton instructs his brother to "keep and maintain players" and to "be friendly unto . . . William Shakeshafte."

1585 - 1590: The "Lost Years"

• Nothing is known about Shakespeare after he left Stratford in 1585. There is no written mention of him for a full seven years. A legend which suggests that he might have had to leave due to some sort of poaching incident and punishment for writing ribald verses is largely dismissed by modern scholars as.
• There is no hard evidence, but some believe that his marriage was troubled and that this contributed to his decision to leave Stratford.
• He may have pursued a number of professions since his plays display so much knowledge of the world and many believe that he pursued a profession in the law.
• Another legend has him beginning his work in the theatre by serving as a hostler taking care of patrons' minding horses at the playhouses.
• According to one theory, William Beeson, son of Christopher Beeson, an actor in Shakespeare's company, claimed that Shakespeare was a country schoolmaster before coming to London. This would account for his in depth knowledge of rhetoric and logic.
• Other theories have him travelling extensively as a sailor (including a trip to Italy); serving as a doctor or law clerk; fighting as a soldier in the Low Countries; working as a tutor; etc. There is no evidence for any of these speculations which attempt to justify his wide ringe of knowledge.
• It is certainly probable that he was very familiar with a number of the touring troupes of actors which visited Stratford, all under the patronage of the Queen or some noble. Between 1573 and 1587 twenty-three companies performed in Stratford (five in 1587 alone, including the famous companies of the Queen, the Earl of Leicester, and the Earl of Essex) where they performed at the guild Hall and in the innyards on Bridge Street. It is, of course, possible that he joined one of these companies at this time.

1590 - 1612: Shakespeare in London

• Shakespeare went to London sometime between 1585 and 1592.
• He was a member of one of the better known of London's acting troupes, Lord Strange's Company. He likely began much as a modern-day intern by carrying props, repairing costumes, grooming horses, handing-out flyers, etc. Eventually he began playing small roles. He seems to have made his mark as an actor before his plays were known.
• By 1592 he had written The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, and the three parts of Henry VI and had become a reasonably well-known playwright on the London stage.
• In a review, of sorts, written by University Wit Robert Greene, we read: "Yes, trust them not: for there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country." It seems Greene is a bit jealous of Shakespeare's success. It is also cleasr that Shakespeare was already known as an actor.
• He was also an actor in his own plays and other’s. References suggest that he played older men (Adam in As You Like It, the Ghost in Hamlet, etc.). Ben Jonson lists him among the cast members in his Every Man in his Humour (1598) and Sejanus (1603). Don Foster's recent textual analysis (somewhat discredited recently) suggests that Shakespeare played : King (All's Well That Ends Well); Adam and Corin (As You Like It); Egeon (The Comedy of Errors); Menenius (Coriolanus); The Ghost (Hamlet); Chorus and Mountjoy (Henry V); Henry, Rumor (Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2); Bedford (Henry VI, Part 1); Suffolk (Henry the VI, Part 2); Flavius (Julius Caesar); King Philip (King John); Theseus (A Midsummer Night's Dream); Morocco, Messenger, and the Duke (The Merchant of Venice); The Messenger and the Friar (Much Ado About Nothing); Brabantio (Othello); Gower (Pericles); Gaunt and the Gardener (Richard II); The Induction Lord (The Taming of the Shrew); The Poet, (Timon of Athens)
• He served as a manager of his company and theatre. Although the title wasn’t used at the time, it is understood that he served as a director for the company
• In 1593 and 1594 during the period that the plague forced the closing of London's theatres, he dedicated his poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, to Henry Wriothesley, the Third Earl of Southampton, his patron and, possibly, his lover.
• By 1594, having already written five of his plays and he bought a share of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (formerly Lord Strange's Company) at James Burbage’s Theatre. He remained with this company for the next twenty years. It is likely that he was made a shareholder in order to insure him as a source of new plays that would no longer need to be purchased.
• "Upon that time when Burbidge played Richard III there was a citizen grew so far in liking with him that, before she went from the play, she appointed him to come that night unto her by the name of Richard the Third. Shakespeare, overhearing their conclusions, went before, was entertained and at his game ere Burbidge came. Then, message being brought the Richard the Third was at the door, Shakespeare caused return to be made that William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third."
• In September 1594 the Lord Mayor of London and the his Puritan allies nearly managed to close the theatres since they were the lewd "sinks on sin."
• The earliest record of Shakespeare in the theatre is in the Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Royal Chamber, March 15, 1595. Shakespeare, Richard Burbage and William Kempe received £20 each for a Christmas performance before the Queen: To Will Kempe Will Shakespeare & Richarde Burbage servantes to the Lord Chamberleyne vpon the councelles warr[ant] dated at Whitehall XV to Martii 159[5] for twoe severall comedies of Enterludes shewed by them before her Ma[jesty] in [Christ]mas tyme laste paste viz vpon St Stephens daye & Innocentes daye xiij vj viij and by waye of her Ma[jesty's] Rewarde vj xiij iiij in all xx

• As a company member he earned a share of the profits as well as his salary as an actor and his fees as a playwright. At the height of his career he probably earned about £200 a year.
• Only seventeen of his plays were ever printed during his lifetime. They were owned by the company that originally produced them
• In 1596 a coat of arms was granted to John Shakespeare elevating Shakespeare to the status of gentleman

"Gould, on a Bend, Sables, a Speare of the first steeled argent. And for his creast or cognizaunce a falcon, his winges dispplayed Argent standing on a wreath of his coullers. "

• In 1596,Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died at the age of eleven
• In 1597 Shakespeare purchased from William Underhill the rather costly "New Place" (£60) in Stratford-Upon-Avon — the second largest house in town and the house to which he would eventually retire. The transaction was not concluded until 1602.
• Between 1597 qnd 1611 he lived in London but travelled to and from Stratford and engaged in business dealings there.
• By 1598 he was manager and a partial owner (10%) of the newly built Globe Theatre. He was writing an average of at least two plays every year
• On February 7, 1601, a day before the failed rebellion staged by the Earl of Essex, his supporters commissioned the Lord Chamberlain's Men, to perform Richard II, which had been published without a politically sensitive scene. The company was later cleared of any complicity in the plot.
• Clearly, Shakespeare did quite well, first as an actor and playwright, and then as a theatre shareholder, real-estate investor, lender, and grain hoarder.
• In 1602 he bought a freehold property of over 120 acres in Stratford for £320 (nearly $250,000 today) as well as a cottage.
• After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 and the end of her 44 year reign, James I elevated Shakespeare’s company to royal status when they became The King’s Men. This exclusive royal patronage extended to the company's commercial productions at the Globe, as well as those at the more intimate Blackfriars Theatre, and the command performances before the royal court at Whitehall Palace.
• Shakespeare wrote all of his plays between 1592 and 1612.
• John Shakespeare died in September of 1601 and Mary Arden died in 1608.
• In 1608 he became a 1/6 owner of The Blackfriar's Theatre.
• In 1598 Francis Meres published a work (Palladis Tamia) which mentions and praises many of Shakespeare's plays:

  As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage . . . for Comedy, witness his Gentlemen of Verona, his Errors, his Love['s] Labours Lost, his Love Labours Won [Shrew?], his Midsummer Night's Dream, and his Merchant of Venice; for Tragedy his Richard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4, King John, Titus Andronicus, and Romeo and Juliet.

1612 - 1616: Stratford-Upon-Avon

• In 1607 Shakespeare's mother, Mary, died.
• Shakespeare retired to Stratford shortly after writing The Tempest some time between about 1608 to 1612. Records indicate that he was at Court several times after that and he was in London periodically attending to various business matters. In 1613 he bought the Blackfriars Gatehouse near Blackfriars Theatre.
• June 29th, 1613 was the premiere date of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. During the performance, a cannon ignited the thatched roof of The Globe and destroyed the theatre. A new Globe was built the next year.
• By 1612 he had made quite a bit of money and owned the second largest house in town
• Susanna married John Hall, a wealthy physician and gave Shakespeare his only grandchild, Elizabeth. Susanna lived to the age of 66.
• Judith married Thomas Quiney, a tavern owner. Their three sons died young
• His line ultimately died out by 1700.
• William Shakespeare died on April 23rd of 1616 (supposedly after catching a chill caught after a night of drinking with fellow playwrights and friends, Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton) and was survived by his wife and two daughters.
• He was buried in The Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25th, 1616.

"Good friend for Jesu's sake forbeare
To digg the dust encloased heare:
Blese be the man [that] spares these stones
And curst be he [that] moves my bones."

• Shakespeare's Last Will and Testament: on 25th March 1616, four weeks prior to his death on April 23rd 1616, Shakespeare made his last Will and Testament.
  • Shakespeare's will left most of his estate to Susanna and Son-in-Law, Dr John Hall: "All the Rest of my Goods, Chattels, Leases, Plate, Jewels & Household stuff whatsoever after my debts and Legacies paid & my funeral expenses discarded", including holdings in Stratford and London.
  • He left Judith £300 and a silver bowl.
  • He left amounts to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall, and his sister, Joan (£30 and permission for her to stay in the Henley Street house for nominal rent), as well as her sons (£5 each).
  • He donated £10 to the poor of Stratford.
  • Shakespeare left his sword and various small bequests to friends and neighbours in Stratford.
  • His friends and fellow actors "my fellows John Hemynges Richard Burbage & Henry Cundell," were each left 26s 8d to buy memorial rings. His friend Hamnet Sadler was also left money to buy a ring.
  • Shakespeare left his wife Anne the "second best bed" - through English Common Law she would have had the right to one-third of his estate as well as residence for life at New Place.
    To his Daughter, Susanna and Son-in-Law, Dr John Hall left: "All the Rest of my Goods, Chattels, Leases, Plate, Jewels & Household stuff whatsoever after my debts and Legacies paid & my funeral expenses discarded"




• Anne Shakespeare spent the rest of her days in her home at New Place with her daughter and died on August 6, 1623 at the age of 67. She is buried next to Shakespeare in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church.

Shakespeare's Family Tree

The monument to Shakespeare in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford was in place by 1623

© Lary Opitz 2008

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Lary Opitz, Prof.   |  Dept. of Theatre  |  Skidmore College  |  Rm. 237  |  Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theatre
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