William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, in Stratford-upon-Avon, at the age of 52, and he was buried two days later in the town’s Holy Trinity Church.
The cause of his death is unknown. He had stopped writing for the stage about three years earlier, and he spent his last years in Stratford as a wealthy landowner, settling his property, seeing both of his daughters married, and signing his will just four weeks before he died.
At a Glance
Here are the key facts about Shakespeare’s last years and death for quick reference.
When and How Shakespeare Died
The date of Shakespeare’s death is recorded, but the reason for it is not.
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and the parish register of Holy Trinity Church records his burial on April 25. His birthday is traditionally kept on April 23, three days before his recorded baptism on April 26, 1564, so he is often said to have died on his 52nd birthday. The birth date itself, however, is not recorded.
No record states what killed him. The only early account comes from John Ward, who became vicar of Stratford in 1662, almost fifty years later. Ward noted that Shakespeare, the poet Michael Drayton, and Ben Jonson “had a merry meeting” and “drank too hard,” and that Shakespeare died of a fever caught there. It is a story told long after the fact, and most historians treat it with caution.
What the records do show is timing. Shakespeare revised and signed his will on March 25, 1616, and he died less than a month later. Nothing documents a long illness, so the sequence may point to a sudden one, but that is as far as the evidence goes.
His Grave and Monument
Shakespeare was buried inside Holy Trinity Church, in the chancel, a place of honor that reflected his standing in the town.
His gravestone carries a four-line curse on anyone who disturbs his remains. Whether Shakespeare wrote it himself is unknown, but it has done its job: the grave has never been opened.
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
Shakespeare’s gravestone, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
On the chancel wall above the grave is a painted monument showing Shakespeare holding a quill pen. It was in place by 1623, when a poem in the First Folio referred to his “Stratford monument,” which makes it one of only two likenesses with a strong claim to show him as people knew him. The other is the engraving on the title page of the First Folio.
The Last Plays
In the final phase of his career, from about 1608 to 1613, Shakespeare wrote a group of plays unlike anything before them.
Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest are usually called the romances. Each moves through loss and suffering toward reunion and forgiveness: children thought dead are found, wrongs are forgiven rather than avenged, and years pass within a single play. From about 1609, his company also performed at the Blackfriars, an indoor, candlelit theater, and some scholars connect the music and spectacle of these plays to that space.
The Tempest, usually dated to 1611, is the play most often read as his farewell. Near the end, the magician Prospero gives up his art: “I’ll break my staff, / Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, / And deeper than did ever plummet sound / I’ll drown my book.” The parallel with Shakespeare’s retirement is tempting but too neat, since he went on writing after The Tempest.
Collaboration With Fletcher and the Globe Fire
Shakespeare’s last plays were written with a younger partner.
John Fletcher, who would succeed him as the chief playwright of the King’s Men, worked with him on Henry VIII, also known as All Is True, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. The two men probably also wrote Cardenio, a play based on an episode from Cervantes’s Don Quixote that has not survived. Collaboration was common in the theater of the time, so these partnerships are better read as normal working practice than as a sign of fading powers.
On June 29, 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, a cannon fired as a stage effect set the thatched roof of the Globe Theatre alight, and the building burned to the ground. It was rebuilt the following year. The loss of the playhouse he had helped to own since 1599 may have helped to bring his London career to a close. More about those years is in our article on his career in London.
A Gentleman in Stratford
Shakespeare had been building a life in Stratford throughout his years in London.
In 1596, his father was granted a coat of arms by the College of Arms, which gave the family the right to call themselves gentlemen. The next year, Shakespeare bought New Place, one of the largest houses in Stratford, and he later added farmland and a share of local tithes, investments that brought in a steady income. In 1613, he also bought a gatehouse in the Blackfriars district of London.
These purchases mattered. Acting was not a gentleman’s profession, but land, a fine house, and a coat of arms gave Shakespeare a standing in his home town that the theater alone could not.
His Daughters’ Marriages
Both of Shakespeare’s surviving children married in his last decade, one of them only weeks before he died.
In 1607, his elder daughter, Susanna, married John Hall, a respected Stratford physician. His younger daughter, Judith, married Thomas Quiney, a local wine merchant, on February 10, 1616. The marriage began badly. Because it took place during Lent without the special license required, Quiney was summoned before the church court and excommunicated. In March, a woman named Margaret Wheeler died in childbirth, and Quiney confessed that he was the father of her child.
Shakespeare revised his will that same month, and its terms for Judith were written to keep her inheritance out of her new husband’s hands. More about the family is in our article on his marriage and family life.
The Will
Shakespeare’s will, signed on March 25, 1616, is the most closely studied document of his life.
It leaves most of his estate, including New Place, to Susanna and her heirs. Judith receives a sum of money, with conditions designed to protect it from Quiney. Small bequests go to friends and to his fellow actors Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell, who each receive money to buy a memorial ring.
The most famous line leaves his wife, Anne, “my second best bed with the furniture.” It can sound like a slight, but many historians point out that the best bed in a house was often kept for guests, which would make the second-best bed the marriage bed. The line does not settle what the marriage was like. The will also says nothing about his plays or manuscripts, which is less surprising than it seems: scripts usually belonged to the acting company, not to the playwright.
After His Death: The First Folio
Seven years after Shakespeare died, two of the friends named in his will made sure his plays would survive.
In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell published Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, known as the First Folio. Its title page promised texts “published according to the true original copies,” and its 36 plays included 18 that had never been printed, among them Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Winter’s Tale. Without the Folio, those plays might have been lost.
The volume opens with a poem by Ben Jonson, who had known Shakespeare as a friend and a rival, that contains the most famous verdict on him: “He was not of an age, but for all time!” Our guide to the quarto and folio editions explains how the plays reached print, and our guide to Shakespeare’s contemporaries covers Jonson and the other writers of his age.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about Shakespeare’s death, answered briefly.
When Did Shakespeare Die?
On April 23, 1616, in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was 52, and he was buried on April 25 in Holy Trinity Church.
How Did Shakespeare Die?
The cause is unknown. A story recorded about fifty years later says he died of a fever after drinking with Michael Drayton and Ben Jonson, but there is no earlier evidence for it.
Where Is Shakespeare Buried?
Inside Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, in front of the altar. His gravestone warns against moving his bones, and his monument hangs on the wall nearby.
Did Shakespeare Die on His Birthday?
Possibly. His birthday is traditionally kept on April 23, the day he died, but only his baptism on April 26, 1564, is recorded, so his exact birth date is unknown.
What Did Shakespeare Leave His Wife?
His will leaves Anne “my second best bed with the furniture,” meaning the bed and its hangings. As a widow, she was probably also entitled by custom to part of the estate, which is one reason the will mentions her so briefly.
Explore His Life
Three articles on the rest of Shakespeare’s life and family.