Shakespeare Timeline
1596 April 26: Entry in the baptismal register of Stratford parish church reads: "Gulielmus filius Johannis Shakspere"

1582 November 27: Bishop of Worcester's register shows Wm. Shaxpere granted a license to marry Anne Whateley.
28 November: The same register records a marriage bond issued to William Shagspere and Anne Hathwey.

1583 May 26: Daughter Susanna Shakspere is baptised in Stratford church.

1585 February 2: Hamnet and Judtih, twins, are baptized in Stratford church.

1589 William Shakespeare's name appears in a legal document along with his parents against a neighbour over a land dispute.

1595 March 15: Shakespeare, along with two other actors, receives payment from the Treasurer of the Royal Chamber for "two comedies or interludes" played before the queen several months earlier. He is now presumably in London.

1596 August 11: Hamnet Shakspere dies at age 11.
29 November: A Mr. William Wayte, files a legal document against Shakspere and three others for "fear of death."

1597 May 4: Shakspere buys a mansion with gardens in Stratford for 60 pounds. It is the second largest house in Stratford.

1598 Shakespeare's name heads the list of principal actors in a production of Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour." In this year, Shakespeare's name begins appearing on the title pages of many plays.

1599 The newly built Globe Theater is recorded as having as tenants "Richard Burbage and William Shackespeare, Gent." Shakspere holds interest in the Theater to at least 1611.

1601 May 1: Shakspere pays 320 pounds for 107 acres of arable land on the common pasture near Stratford. He also buys a cottage across from his house.

1603 May 19: A Royal Patent is given to nine actors and their associates, among them William Shakespeare, which authorizes them to perform plays at the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare's name appears on the list of principal comedians in another of Jonson's plays.

1604 March 15: Nine players, including Shakespeare, are given red cloth by the Great Wardrobe, to make liveries for participating in the coronation procession of King James.

1604 The production of Shakespeare's plays are at their height, however, Shakspeare appears to be chiefly in Stratford from this date on.

1608 Shakespeare sues for a debt of six pounds against a John Addenbroke.
19 October: Shakespeare takes a one-seventh share of Blackfriars Theater.

1610 Shakespeare buys 20 acres of land near Stratford.

1616 25 January: After revisions, Shakespeare's will is signed by him in three places. It leaves most of his estate to his elder daughter, Susanna. The will gives his "second-best" bed to his wife.
23 April: Shakespeare dies, and is buried two days later in Stratford. His name does not appear on the stone over his grave.