Shakespeare was born in the Wroxall area, about 7 miles (11 km) to the north in Warwickshire.[3] At some time before 1529, he removed to Snitterfield, where he was a tenant farmer until his death on land owned by Robert Arden, the father of Mary Arden, who married John, the poet's father.[4]
Richard Shakespeare is mentioned in the court and manorial records as a prosperous farmer with livestock. Thomas Atwood alias Taylor, a prosperous vintner and clothier who was a member of the StratfordGuild, bequeathed him a team of four oxen he was keeping. He was fined two pence for not attending the manor court in 1529, and he was charged with overburdening the commons with his cattle and fined for letting them run loose in the meadows and neglecting to ring or yoke his swine.[4]
At the time of his death, Richard leased 80 acres of farm land on which his house stood, situated from the corner of High Street (now Bell Lane) down to the ford over the stream that flowed through the village into the Avon.[5] His estate was valued at £38 17s (equivalent to £16,237 in 2023).[6]
^Chambers, E.K. (1930). William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, 2 vols., Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN0-19-811774-4, OCLC353406, I:11, II:26.
^Schoenbaum, Samuel (1987). William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life (Revised ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-505161-0, pp. 14, 16.
^Honan, Park (1998). Shakespeare: A Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-811792-2, p. 28.
Direct ascendants and descendants of William Shakespeare are shown with a blue background
Shakespeare's siblings are shown with a red background
Anne Hathaway and ascendants are shown with a yellow background
People related to Shakespeare only through marriage are shown with a green background
Relations whose identity is not known are shown with a dashed border
Years given are usually approximate and typically reflect baptismal and burial years, rather than birth and death. For remarriages, the number in parentheses after the name indicates the order of the marriages.
