Two years later, the couple had twins, Hamnet and Judith, but their son died when he was 11 years old. Again, a gap in the records leads some scholars to refer to Shakespeare’s life between 1585 ...

Shakespeare’s parents had been Catholics, and the tension between the new and old religions can be seen in much of his work. William’s father, John Shakespeare, was a member of the borough ...

Poet William Basse wrote: My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie a little further on to make thee room. But it was not until 29th January 1741 (1740 in ...