Years 1595-1596
| Shakespeare's life | contemporary events |
| 1595 | |
|
March 15. Shakespeare is mentioned in the
Revels Accounts as payee for
a Christmas performance by the Lord Chamberlain's
Men before the Queen. Shakespeare is living in St. Helen's parish, Bishopsgate. |
Sidney's Defence of Poesie
is published. Spenser's Amoretti is published. Walter Raleigh explores Orinoco. Fire in Stratford in September. The Lambeth Articles are drawn up by Archbishop Whitgift, defining the Anglican position on predestination as Calvinist; but Elizabeth countermands the change. Heels appear on shoes for the first time. The bow and arrow are abolished as weapons of war. Drake and Hawkins die both die on an unsuccessful privateering expedition to the Spanish Main. |
| 1596 | |
|
Aug. 11. Hamnet Shakespeare is buried at Stratford. Oct. 20. A coat of arms is granted to John Shakespeare. Oct. Tax records indicate that Shakespeare is living in parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate; he is assessed 5s. on goods valued at £5. Nov. 29. A writ of Attachment is issued to the Sherriff of Surrey to enforce Shakespeare and three others to keep the peace. |
A peasant uprising is put down in South
Oxfordshire. The Swan Theatre is built on the Bankside. Opening of the second Blackfriars Theatre. Spenser's Faerie Queene (Books 4-6) is published. Galileo invents the thermometer. Henry Carey, Lord Chamberlain dies. His son, George Carey, 2nd Lord Hunsdon, assumes patronage of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and they become known as Hunsdon's Men. Descartes is born. An expedition under the Earl of Essex blockades and temporarily captures Cadiz. |