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A PLACE FOR ALL THINGS SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare's Times
Interesting Early Shakespearean London Players & Theater Owners
~• many of whom were related
- Richard Burbage & his grand daughter Mary Saunderson, the wife of
- Thomas Betterton, employed by
- Sir William Davenant
The Life and Times of Shakespeare
See Levi Peter, The Life and Times of William Shakespeare: Macmillan, London, 1988, ISBN 10: 0333435842 / ISBN 13: 9780333435847 for family trees and connections to the Gunpowder Plot conspirators
Shakespeare's Use of History
Many of the plays of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) are dramatizations of historical events, while others contain a kernel of history or allusions to history.
MacBeth
See also: Macbeth - Historical Context of Shakespeare's Play
The Stuart Line back to King Arthur through Fleance & Banquo
Fleance and his father Banquo are both fictional characters presented as historical fact by Hector Boece, whose Scotorum Historiae (1526–27) was a source for Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, a history of the British Isles popular in Shakespeare's time. In the Chronicles, Fleance—in fear of Macbeth—flees to Wales and marries Nesta verch Gruffydd, daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the last native Prince of Wales.
They have a son named Walter who makes his way back to Scotland and is appointed Royal Steward. According to legend, he fathered the Stuart monarchs of England and Scotland.
The Stuarts used their connection with Fleance and his marriage to the Welsh princess to claim a genealogical link with the legendary King Arthur. This, they hoped, would strengthen the legitimacy of their throne.[3] In 1722, however, Richard Hay, a Scottish historian, presented strong evidence that not only was James not a descendant of Fleance, but also that both Fleance and Banquo never even existed. Most modern scholars now agree that Fleance is not a real historical figure.