Shakespeare's baptism, written in a borrowed Latin line
On this day · 26 April 1564
A single parish-register entry from 1564 is the earliest documentary trace of the world's most-quoted playwright.
On 26 April 1564, the parish register of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon recorded a baptism in Latin: Guilielmus filius Johannes Shakspere — “William, son of John Shakespeare.” It is the earliest surviving documentary reference to the man who would become the most-performed playwright in history.
No birth certificate exists for the period, so the baptism entry is the closest fixed point we have. Because the Book of Common Prayer urged parents to baptise infants within a few days of birth, scholars have settled on 23 April as Shakespeare’s traditional birthday — a tidy coincidence, since that is also the date of his death in 1616.
The line survives only because a 1598 order required parishes to copy their registers onto durable parchment.
The original Elizabethan volume, carrying both his baptism and his burial, is now kept by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for safekeeping.
Sources & references
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