Years 1597-1598
| Shakespeare's life | contemporary events |
| 1597 | |
|
May 4. Shakespeare buys New Place, two
cottages and two barns in Stratford for £60. Aug. 29. Richard II is entered in the Stationers' Register. Oct. 20. Richard III is entered in the Stationers' Register. Nov. 15. The tax Collector of St. Helen's Parish records non-payment of 5s. tax by William Shakespeare (most likely he had moved). Romeo and Juliet is entered in Stationers' Register. Richard II and Richard III are published. |
Bacon's Essays (version 1)
are published. The second Spanish Armada is scattered by a storm. James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) publishes his Daemonologie. Dowland's Songs are published. An Act of Parliament requires the return to tillage of all lands converted to pasture during Elizabeth's reign (see "enclosures"). |
| 1598 | |
|
Feb. 4. Stratford town records show Shakespeare holding
10 quarters (80 bushels) of "corne and malte." Oct. 1. City records note Shakespeare defaulting on taxes in St. Helen's Parish, London. |
French Civil Wars end with the Edict of Nantes. The Act of 1572 is modified so that the patron of an acting company must have the rank of at least a baron (Feb. 9). The Admiral's Men and Chamberlain's Men have the monopoly in London. Shakespeare is referred to in Palladis Tamia by Francis Meres. The Theatre is demolished. Thomas Bodley begins rebuilding of Oxford Library. Rebellion in Ireland. Marlowe's poem Hero and Leander is published. Thomas Carew is born. Bernini is born. George Peele dies. |