William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare is probably one of the greatest influences on English literature. Not much is known about him, but we know about his life from court documents, wills, marriage certificates, and his tombstone. William is thought to have been born in 1564. We know this from the earliest records we have of his life. life; his baptism occurred on Wednesday 26 April 1564. We actually do not know his exact date of birth but from this document we assume that he was born in 1564. William's parents were John and Mary Shakespeare. William was the third of seven siblings (four brothers and three sisters). From baptismal records, we know that William's father was one John Shakespeare, said to have been a Stratford town official and local businessman. John worked with grain and was sometimes described as a glove maker by trade. He was also one of the fourteen officials who made up the city council. William's mother was Mary Arden who married John Shakespeare in 1557. The youngest daughter of her family, she inherited much of her father's land holdings and farming estate when he died. Very little is known about Shakespeare's education. We know that King's New Grammar School taught children the basics of reading and writing. We presume that William attended this school since it existed to educate the children of Stratford but we have no firm evidence. In 1582 William married. A bail certificate dated November 28, 1582 reveals that eighteen-year-old William married the pregnant twenty-six-year-old Anne Hathaway. Just seven months later they had their first daughter, Susanna. Anne never left Stratford, living there all her life. Susanna was baptized at Stratford in May 1583. The baptism records once again reveal that the twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, aged just eleven. William's family was unusually small in an era when families had many children to ensure that parents cared for them in later years. William is believed to have left his family behind for around twenty years as he pursued his passion in London..