A Brief Chronology of Shakespeare's Life and Work
(Some dates are approximate, especially those of the plays.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42| 1509-47 | Reign of Henry VIII | |
| 1534 | Act of Supremacy, declaring Henry VIII head of the Church of England | |
| 1547-53 | Reign of Edward VI | |
| 1553-58 | Reign of Mary I. Return to Catholicism | |
| 1558-1603 | Reign of Elizabeth I | |
| 1563 | Adoption of the Thirty-Nine Articles | |
| 1564 | William Shakespeare born April 23 | |
| 1569 | Northern Catholic rebellion suppressed | |
| 1576 | James Burbage builds The Theatre | |
| 1578 | John Lyly, Euphues | |
| 1579 | Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calendar | |
| 1582 | Shakespeare's marriage to Anne Hathaway, November | |
| 1583 | Birth of Susanna, May 26 | |
| 1583-84 | Plots against Elizabeth on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots | |
| 1584 | John Lyly, Galatea | |
| 1585 | Births of Shakespeare's son Hamnet and his twin sister Judith, February 2. Earl of Leicester sent to aid the Dutch against the Spanish |
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| 1587 | Execution of Mary Queen of Scots February 8 | |
| 1588 | At some point, Shakespeare moves to London; family remains in Stratford War with Spain. The Spanish Armada fleet destroyed in July |
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| 1588-94 | Shakespeare writes the early comedies and histories and the early tragedy Titus Andronicus | |
| 1590 | Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde; Philip Sidney, Arcadia; Spenser, Faerie Queene, Books 1-3 | |
| 1592 | Shakespeare attacked in print by Robert Greene | |
| 1593 | Venus and Adonis | |
| 1593-1603 | The Sonnets | |
| 1594 | Shakespeare joins the Lord Chamberlain's Men; The Rape of Lucrece | |
| 1594-5 | A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet | |
| 1596-8 | The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV Parts I and II | |
| 1597 | Earl of Essex sent to Ireland to put down a rebellion led by the Earl of Tyrone; George Chapman, An Humorous Day's Mirth | |
| 1598 | Jonson, Every Man in His Humour |
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| 1598-9 | Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor | |
| 1599 | Shakespeare's company moves to the Globe. As You Like It, Henry V, Julius Caesar Prohibition and public burning of satires |
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| 1600-02 | Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, All's Well That Ends Well | |
| 1601 | Shakespeare's father dies Essex's abortive rebellion and his execution; T. Dekker, Satiromastix; Jonson, Poetaster; the "Poet's War" |
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| 1603 | Shakespeare's company the Chamberlain's Men becomes the King's Men Death of Elizabeth I; coronation of James I, March 24 |
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| 1603-4 | Measure for Measure, Othello | |
| 1604 | James's confrontation of the Puritans at the Hampton Court Conference. Peace with Spain. | |
| 1605 | The Gunpowder Plot foiled November 5 | |
| 1605-6 | King Lear | |
| 1606-7 | Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra, Pericles | |
| 1608 | Coriolanus | |
| 1609-11 | Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest | |
| 1613-14 | Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen Shakespeare in retirement, living in Stratford. Globe burns |
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| 1616 | Death of Shakespeare, April 23 |