William Shakespeare was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. He had seven siblings, but only 5 of them survived to become adults. His father was John Shakespeare, a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who made items like gloves and purses. His mother was Mary Arden, who was the youngest in her family and inherited much of her father’s land and farming estate when he passed.
Will got married to 26 year old Anne Hathaway when he was just 18 years old. They had their first daughter 7 months later and named her Susanna. Almost 10 years later, Anne gave birth to twins Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare’s only son Hamnet died at age 11. They had an unusually small family for the time, as many people had lots of kids because the mortality rate was so high and some were expected to die.
Shakespeare died on April 23rd, 1616. He is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. In his will, he left most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna and his second-best bed to his wife. Although this seems odd, his second-best bed was his marriage bed and his best bed was reserved for guests, so it made sense in a way. His daughter Susanna had one child, named Elizabeth, who died in 1670 without any kids. This ended his direct line of descendants.
His last words before death are written on his grave and are as follows:
Good friend, for Jesus´ sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed here! Blest be ye man that spares thes stones And curst be he that moues my bones.
His words signify that he does not want anyone to dig his bones and would like to rest in peace. The words curse anyone who moves his bones and blesses those who spare them.
Sources cited:
Shakespeare biography. Shakespeare Biography at AbsoluteShakespeare.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/shakespeare_biography.htm
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