Internet Shakespeare Editions

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Years 1602-1603

Shakespeare's life contemporary events
1602
May 1. Shakespeare buys 107 acres of farm land in Old Stratford for £320.
Sept. 1. Shakespeare acquires one-quarter of an acre of land and a cottage in Chapel Lane, Stratford.
Reference is made to Shakespeare and Richard Burbage in The Returne from Parnassus (Part 2).
Ben Jonson's The Poetaster is published.
Thomas Dekker's Satiromastix is published.
The Bodleian Library, Oxford, is opened.
Thomas Morley dies.
1603
May 19. Shakespeare is mentioned in a royal patent which renames the Lord Chamberlain's Men as the King's Men.
During the winter season, Shakespeare performs in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, the last record of him acting.
Henry Chettle, in his poem "Englandes Mourning Garment," exhorts Shakespeare to write honouring the memory of Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Walter Raleigh is imprisoned.
Queen Elizabeth dies.
Plague rages in London (30,561 deaths); theatres remain closed until April 1604. .
James I arrives in London.
Henslowe ends his Diary.
Monteverdi's Madrigals, Book 4, are published.