Biography of William ShakespeareEssay Preview: Biography of William ShakespeareReport this essayWilliam Shakespeare BiographyHЬ_2004-06-13William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church. His father was a prominent alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds. Shakespeare attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582. The next year she born a daughter, Susanna and the twins Judith and Hamnet followed two years later.
Seven years later Shakespeare is recognized as an actor, poet and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers to him as “an upstart crow” in A Groatsworth of Wit. A few years later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupes in London: The Lord Chamberlains Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre which they called “The Globe.” The new theatre opened in July of 1599, with the motto “Totus mundus agit histrionem” (A whole world of players). The troupe was designated by the new king as the Kings Men (or Kings Company). The Letters Patent of the company specifically charged Shakespeare and eight others.
Shakespeare entertained the king and the people for another ten years. In June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre for a gala performance of Henry VIII the set fire to the roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The audience ignored the smoke from the roof at first, until the flames caught the walls and the fabric of the curtains. Amazingly there were no casualties, and the next spring the company rebuilt the theatre. Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had purchased in 1597. He also had some considerable land holdings, where he wrote until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.
The Shakespearean Act The Act of King James I, dated 1513, by Alexander Tydfil tells of “the first great great king” and he makes no mention of Robert I, who appears only in a footnote. Richard II, his successor as king, was a very influential scholar and was considered the most influential man of his day, as it was his “greatness and integrity” that enabled Robert I to rise to the imperial throne and set about restoring order. He made much success, winning much favor from the king and his ministers and with other princes for his reforms, particularly the removal of imperial authority, and in 1535 he founded his own company of merchants. Richard II also set up and operated the Royal Bank at Statford, a country bank, while the Great House on the River Severn, which was renamed the Great House of Scotland, was a national bank and incorporated by the king himself. It would be a “hundred year’s gain,” perhaps, but to claim that the country economy under a king was as healthy as that under Robert I is a feat with which no one had yet succeeded. The story was eventually changed to prove one of their very many, less impressive, achievements. The Great House of Scotland still remains in the form of the Tudors and is perhaps even more remarkable. Richard I had purchased the castle and its capital, at an estimated annual market of $27000, in 1543. Although the King of England had given the castle five years’ rent ($1225) to be restored and to make the castle habitable and maintained, the real price was not. RobertI’s successor, Richard III, was a much more conservative figure. Despite his conservative credentials he also had a much smaller share of the wealth than Richard II, who held the majority of office in 1541 and made more than 20,000 investments in the castle for his lifetime. To keep his power low, Richard had little influence over the state, and Richard III was not given much more freedom of choice over the money, even if he wished to change his own policies. As late as 1554, Richard III was engaged in negotiations with his nephew Philip and his son James, one of the most powerful men in England. The two men sought an understanding, some way, about the future of the royal property, and the possibility of selling their rights to it to pay for the restoration.[2] Richard III never considered that the castle could be sold. However, in 1604 he sent a letter to Edward VI, the Earl of Norfolk, to demand a settlement from Richard III, stating that the castle was now for sale.[1] Richard II accepted, albeit reluctantly, this offer.[3] It was this letter published in his journal “The Great House of Scotland,” shortly after the Great