1594

Harvests fail!

Earl of Tyrone revolts in Ireland
The French painter Poussin born
Lancaster breaks Portuguese monopoly in India
Akbar takes Kandahar
Rural England begins to suffer years of bad harvests
"The Rape of Lucrece" (sonnets) printed
"Love's Labour's Lost" written and performed at The Theatre
"Romeo and Juliet" written and performed at The Theatre

Julian Glover and Adrian Schiller in King Lear

Formation of the Chamberlain's Men

Shakespeare and Richard Burbage join a new company formed by Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon....

1595

Sir Francis Drake: RIP

Raleigh's first expedition to Guyana
Henry IV of France declares war on Spain
Dutch colonize East Indies
Sir Francis Drake dies
Hawkins dies
The Swan playhouse opens
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" written and performed at The Theatre
"Richard II" written and performed at The Theatre

The trial and execution of Robert Southwell

Jesuit poet Robert Southwell is executed after two and a half years in jail...

1596

Spain cultivates new enemies

England, France and Netherlands ally against Spain
Descartes, French philosopher, dies
The Earl of Essex' expedition to Cadiz
Sir Walter Raleigh's Discovery of Guiana published
"The Merchant of Venice" written and performed at The Theatre
"Henry IV Part 1" written and performed at The Theatre
Shakespeare's patron Lord Hunsdon dies and is replaced by Lord Cobham. Cobham is not a fan of the theatre or of players

Desmond Barrit plays Falstaff at The New Inn

The Oldcastle scandal

William Shakespeare finds himself in trouble for his use of a character called Sir John Oldcastle in his new work "Henry IV..."

Hamnet Shakespeare dies

Shakespeare's son dies, and is buried while his father is on tour in Kent...

A coat of arms

Not long after the death of his own son, William takes his father to the College of Arms in London to secure a coat of arms...

Shakespeare summonsed

When the company takes over a hall in Blackfriars, Shakespeare is summonsed to keep the peace in a writ served by a landowner in Southwark, who presumably didn't want to see the price of his property affected by proximity to a den of sin and inequity like a theatre...

1597

Invasion thwarted

Chinese expel Japanese from Korea
The Theatre playhouse closed
Third Spanish Armada shipwrecked
Bacon's "Essays" and King James' "Daemonology" published
"The Merry Wives of Windsor" written and performed at The Curtain
"Henry IV Part 2" written and performed at The Curtain
The anti-theatre Chamberlain Lord Cobham dies. Lord Hunsdon's pro-theatre son takes over and The Chamberlain's Men are reinstated
London theaters are closed and Ben Jonson is briefly imprisoned for his part in writing the "seditious" play "Isle of Dogs"

Shakespeare commissioned to write sonnets to William Herbert
William enters into an affair with William Herbert and the Dark Lady
Emilia Lanier, possibly the Dark Lady, visits physician Simon Foreman