His father William was a successful local businessman, and his mother Mary was the daughter of a landowner. Relatively prosperous, it is likely the family paid for Williams education, although there is no evidence he attended university.
They had three children, Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Their only son Hamnet died aged just 11.
He became an actor, a writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men.
They were mainly tragedies such as Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.
He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect health". In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna.
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