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William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avron to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare.
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William Shakespeare is baptized at Holy Trinity Church.
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Shakespeare enters King's New School, an excellent grammar school in Stratford attended by the sons of civil servants like his father. Boys typically enter the school around the age of five, but since no official records survive its impossible to know exactly when Shakespeare starts his education.
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18 year old William Shakespeare gets married to 26 year old Anne Hathaway.
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Anne Hathaway gives birth to twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith. The babies are named after Shakespeare's close friends, Hamnet and Judith Sadler.
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Around this time, Shakespeare writes Henry VI, Part One—his very first play. Like all of Shakespeare's plays, the precise year of its authorship is now unclear. Also around the same time, Shakespeare leaves Stratford to begin work as a playwright and actor in London.
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Shakespeare publishes "Venus and Adonis," his first long published poem. It is dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.
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London theaters are closed due to an outbreak of bubonic plague that eventually kills about five percent of the city's residents. Shakespeare uses the break to write poetry.
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Six months after their marriage, the Shakespeare's first child, Susanna, is born and baptized.
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In the spring of 1594, the London theaters reopen to the public. Over the next five years Shakespeare's troupe, the Chamberlain's Men, becomes one of the most popular acting groups in London. They accept frequent invitations to perform in the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I.
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William and Anne bury their only son who died at the age of 11 due to unknown causes.
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Writer Francis Meres publishes a glowing review of Shakespeare's work. Thanks to Meres' review, we know that by this time Shakespeare has become a noted playwright with at least a dozen plays under his belt, including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Love's Labors Lost, Richard II and Titus Andronicus.
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The Chamberlain's Men build the Globe, a wooden theater in London. Many of Shakespeare's most famous plays are performed for the first time here.
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Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James ascends the throne. The Chamberlain's Men change their name to the King's Men, and perform before King James eleven times between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605.
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The King's Men begin performing at Blackfriars, an indoor theater in London. In contrast to the somber mood of the last seven years, Shakespeare's work takes on a lighter tone in plays like Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
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Publisher Thomas Thorpe prints a collection of 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets.
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Shakespeare leaves London and moves back to Stratford, where his wife and married daughters live.
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Shakespeare composes his final plays— Henry VIII, Two Noble Kinsmen (possibly written in 1614), and the now-lost Cardenio—in collaboration with John Fletcher, replacement playwright for the King's Men. The Globe catches fire during a performance of Henry VIII and burns to the ground.
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An ailing Shakespeare calls his lawyer to revise his will, making some odd changes that include leaving his "second-best bed" to his wife and £10 to the poor.
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Suffering from an unknown illness, William Shakespeare dies on his 52nd birthday.
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Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, the same church where he was baptized. His marker orders a curse on anyone who disturbs his grave.
