It is unknown whether he completed his studies or abandoned them as an adolescent to apprentice with his father.Īt 18 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (1556-1616), a woman eight years his senior, in a ceremony thought to have been hastily arranged due to her pregnancy. Though no records of his education survive, it is likely that he attended the well-regarded local grammar school, where he would have studied Latin grammar and classics.

William was the third of eight Shakespeare children, of whom three died in childhood. Like John, she may have been a practicing Catholic at a time when those who rejected the newly established Church of England faced persecution.ĭid you know? Sources from William Shakespeare's lifetime spell his last name in more than 80 different ways, ranging from “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.” In the handful of signatures that have survived, he himself never spelled his name “William Shakespeare,” using variations such as “Willm Shakspere” and “William Shakspeare” instead. The ambitious son of a tenant farmer, John boosted his social status by marrying Mary Arden, the daughter of an aristocratic landowner.

Shakespeare’s father, John, dabbled in farming, wood trading, tanning, leatherwork, money lending and other occupations he also held a series of municipal positions before falling into debt in the late 1580s. His birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23, which was the date of his death in 1616 and is the feast day of St.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a bustling market town 100 miles northwest of London, and baptized there on April 26, 1564.

Shakespeare by michael wood