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William Shakespeare and The Winter's Tale: A Brief Chronology
| 1558 | Elizabeth I proclaimed Queen of England following the death of her sister, Queen Mary I. |
| 1564 | 23 April: William Shakespeare is born in Stratford to a glover, John Shakespeare, and his wife, Mary Shakespeare. His baptism is recorded at the Holy Trinity Church on 26 April. |
| 1571 | Shakespeare begins his formal education at the Stratford Grammar School. |
| 1582 | 28 November: a "William Shagspeare" (as written in the marriage bond) weds "Anne Hathwey"—Anne Hathaway of Shottery, Stratford. |
| 1583 | 2 May: the baptism of Susanna Shakespeare, the first child born six months after the Shakespeare wedding. |
| 1585-1592 | Shakespeare is believed to have left his family in Stratford to join a company of actors as both playwright and performer, starting his career in theater. |
| 1585 | The twins Hamnet and Judith born. |
| 1588 | The Spanish Armada is defeated as Spain attempts an invasion of England. |
| 1589-1590 | Shakespeare is believed to have written his very first play, Henry VI, Part One in this year. He may have been a member of the combined players' companies, the Lord Strange's and Lord Admiral's Men. |
| 1592 | Shakespeare is criticized in Robert Greene's Groats-worth of Witteas an "upstart crow" who plagiarizes from other plays, a sign that Shakespeare is in London. |
| 1592-94 | Theaters in London close because of the plague. |
| 1592-93 | Presumed composition of the narrative poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucreceand the plays Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew |
| 1594 | The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a theater troupe including distinguished actor Richard Burbage and comic Will Kemp, performs with Shakespeare in their group. |
| 1595 | Presumed composition of Richard II,A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet. |
| 1596 | Son Hamnet dies, 11 August. Shakespeare's father is granted a coat of arms. |
| 1597 | Shakespeare buys the New Place, one of Stratford's most prominent houses. |
| 1598 | Performance in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humor, which lists him as a principal actor in the play. |
| 1599 | The Globe Theater is built on the Bankside from the materials of the demolished Theater in Shoreditch. Julius Caesar is performed at the Globe for the first known time on 21 September, according to the diary of Swiss tourist Thomas Platter. |
| 1600-1601 | Presumed compositon of Hamlet. |
| 1601 | Presumed composition of narrative poem, The Phoenix and the Turtle.John Shakespeare dies. |
| 1601-1602 | Presumed composition of Twelfth Night or What You Will, All Well That Ends Well and Troilus and Cressida |
| 1603 | 24 March: Death of Queen Elizabeth I and ascension of James I. The Chamberlain's Men are renamed The King's Men. Shakespeare is recorded as performing in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, Shakespeare's last recorded acting performance. |
| 1604 | Presumed composition of Measure for Measure and Othello. |
| 1605 | Presumed composition of King Lear and Macbeth. |
| 1607-1608 | Timon of Athens, Pericles and Coriolanusare composed. Shakespeare's daughter Susanna marries John Hall. |
| 1608 | The King's Men take on a twenty-one year lease of London's first permanently enclosed theater, the Blackfriars Playhouse. |
| 1608-10 | The return of the plague forces a closure of all playhouses from the spring of 1608 through to early 1610. |
| 1609-1610 | Cymbeline is thought to have been composed. |
| 1610-1611 | The Winter's Tale is written. The play is performed in 1611 at the Globe and again in November 1611 at the first Banqueting House. The play would also be performed in February 1613 as one of a number of entertainments to celebrate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Frederick V. |
| 1613 | The Globe Theater burns to the ground during a performance of Henry VIII(alternative title: All is True). |
| 1614 | The second Globe Theater opens. |
| 1616 | The death of Shakespeare on 23 April. The burial occurs on 25 April at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. |
| 1623 | The death of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. |
| The publication of The First Folio by John Hemminges and Henry Condell. |