Shakespeare's Life

The events of Shakespeare's life has been a subject of debate, but what is known is that England’s greatest poet was born the year 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in Stratford-upon-Avon, a market town 91 miles northwest of London. John Shakespeare was a prominent and prosperous glove maker, trader in wool, and alderman, who owned at least five houses in Stratford. Also, he became mayor of Stratford when William was four years old. Mary Arden was the daughter of a landowner who lived near Stratford. William Shakespeare was the third child of John and Mary out of eight children. He was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. There is no record of his birth, but the parish church, the registers of Holy Trinity in which Shakespeare was buried 52 years later, recorded his baptism as April 26, 1564. Thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April since babies were sometimes baptized on the third day. But there is no proof of the actual date of his birth. Little is known about his early life, but he did attend grammar school due to his father’s high ranking. Boys studied mainly Latin, so Shakespeare probably read the works of Cicero, Virgil, Terence, Seneca, Plautus and Ovid. It is believed that Ovid was Shakespeare’s favorite poet. In that time, school began at six in the morning and lasted until six at night. When not at school, young Shakespeare must have become familiar with the Stratford country side, as is proved by his many references to rural sights and sounds in his plays. Also, he had knowledge of field sports and woodcrafts, for his plays show a fuller range of these activities than the other dramatists of the time. William Shakespeare did not proceed to Cambridge or Oxford. John Shakespeare may have had some heavy debts and fines attributed to illegally dealing in wool and this could be the reason why William Shakespeare didn't continue with his education. It is believed he was apprenticed to a Stratford tradesman.

The Half-Timbered Buildings, above, were owned by John Shakespeare, the playwright's father. They are joined together, and stand on Henley Street in Startford-upon-Avon. William Shakespeare was born in the family home at the left. The House to the right probably served as his father's shop. Thousands visit these buildings every year.


Shakespeare's Schoolhouse, The Stratford Grammar School, where Shakespeare is believed to have received his only formal educccation, is still standing. The stone tower belongs to the Guild Chapel. Troupes of traveling actors performed in the chapel during the poet's youth, and helped turn his attention to the theatre.					The events of Shakespeare's life has been a subject of debate, but what is known is that England’s greatest poet was born the year 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in Stratford-upon-Avon, a market town 91 miles northwest of London. John Shakespeare was a prominent and prosperous glove maker, trader in wool, and alderman, who owned at least five houses in Stratford. Also, he became mayor of Stratford when William was four years old. Mary Arden was the daughter of a landowner who lived near Stratford. William Shakespeare was the third child of John and Mary out of eight children. He was born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. There is no record of his birth, but the parish church, the registers of Holy Trinity in which Shakespeare was buried 52 years later, recorded his baptism as April 26, 1564. Thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April since babies were sometimes baptized on the third day. But there is no proof of the actual date of his birth. Little is known about his early life, but he did attend grammar school due to his father’s high ranking. Boys studied mainly Latin, so Shakespeare probably read the works of Cicero, Virgil, Terence, Seneca, Plautus and Ovid. It is believed that Ovid was Shakespeare’s favorite poet. In that time, school began at six in the morning and lasted until six at night. When not at school, young Shakespeare must have become familiar with the Stratford country side, as is proved by his many references to rural sights and sounds in his plays. Also, he had knowledge of field sports and woodcrafts, for his plays show a fuller range of these activities than the other dramatists of the time. William Shakespeare did not proceed to Cambridge or Oxford. John Shakespeare may have had some heavy debts and fines attributed to illegally dealing in wool and this could be the reason why William Shakespeare didn't continue with his education. It is believed he was apprenticed to a Stratford tradesman.


Shakespeare was earning his own living by the time he was 18. He was not yet 19 when he married Anne Hathaway in 1582. They had three children: Susanna, born on May 26, 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, born Feb. 2, 1585. Not much is known about what Shakespeare did in the years just after his marriage. Some accounts say that he taught school in the country for a while. Some say that he worked for his father, who was a glove maker. Another story that was told was that he was caught stealing deer, in the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy, a Judge and Member of Parliament, and was prosecuted so he left Stratford. There is no evidence of what happened to him between 1585 and 1592. These are none as “the lost years.” A few years later, Shakespeare moved to London around 1588, and by 1590, he was an actor and he had begun to write for the stage. In 1592 bubonic plague, a terrible disease swept over London. For about two years all London theaters were closed. During that time Shakespeare began to write poems. Besides writing some long poems he wrote more than 100 sonnets. A sonnet is a 14-line poem which has certain regular pattern and rhyme. When the plague was over, the play houses were opened again.					Anne Hathaway's Cottege, is the birthplace of Anne, who became Shakespeare's wife. It is located at the village of Shottery, about a mile from Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Swan Theatre, stood near the Globe, and was built on the same general plan.

New companies of actors were formed and in 1595, he was a shareholder in the Chamberlain's Men, who later became the King's Men under James the I. This company often put on plays to entertain the royal household. The Troup, in 1599, lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, appropriately called "The Theatre", but they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe." The new theatre opened in July of 1599, built from the timbers of "The Theatre", with the motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem" A whole world of players. Shakespeare wrote some of his plays about kings of England. Henry V and Richard III are two examples. They helped the English people to understand the history of their own country. Besides his historical plays Shakespeare wrote both comedies and tragedies. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous of his tragedies. Other tragedies include Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. Among his comedies are A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare borrowed from other writers for some of the stories for his plays, but his way of telling the stories was his own.

Various records show that Shakespeare made a small fortune. In 1596, he owned enough property in the London parish of St. Helen's, Bishops gate, to have to pay five pounds in taxes, a relatively large sum in those days. The next year, he bought one of the finest houses in Stratford and improved it and the grounds until it became one of the show places of the town. In 1598 he owned 10 per cent of the stock in the Globe Theatre and, ten years later, 14 per cent of the stock in the Black friars Theatre. In 1602, he bought one hundred acres of land near Stratford, and leased a cottage and another plot of ground in the town. Three years later, he purchased valuable property in the town of Stratford, and in 1613 another house in a fashionable section of London. These real estate dealings, are not significant in themselves, but, taken together. They show the prosperity, which Shakespeare achieved through his theatrical, activates. In 1596, a man named William Wayte claimed that Shakespeare and certain other men had put him in fear of death. Little is known of this particular dispute except that it was part of a long quarrel in which Shakespeare was not personally involved.

The Globe was built in 1599. It was originally located on the north bank of the Thames river, but was later dismantled and reconstructed on the south bank of the river and called The Globe. The Globe burned down in 1613, but was rebuilt and reopened the following year. The Puritans closed down all the theatres in 1642, and the Globe was destroyed in 1644 for the construction of tenements. The original foundations were discovered in 1989 beneath Anchor Terrace on Southwark Bridge Road, but the site cannot be excavated by archaeologists because Anchor Terrace was built in the eighteenth century, and is a historical land mark, or as the British say it is listed.

In 1598 and 1603, Shakespeare acted in two of Ben Jonson's plays, which were produced by his company. With his fellow actors, he marched in King James' royal entrance parade into London in 1604. Between 1602 and 1612, he was a fairly close friend of a family of French refugees named Mountjoy, and during some part of this period he lived in their house. When Mary Mountjoy's husband sued her father about Mary's dowry in 1612, Shakespeare, then living at Stratford, was called as a witness and told what he remembered of the arrangements for the marriage. The years from 1694 to about 1608 were the most productive years of Shakespeare's career. He must have been a familiar figure about London, but only a few records of his specific activities have survived. In 1596, probably upon Shakespeare's application, the College of Heralds granted his father a coat of arms. This was made up of gold shield bearing a silver falcon shaking a golden spear.


These few fragmentary records give no real picture of Shakespeare's activities in London. They are merely incidental facts, which happen to have been preserved for more than three centuries. Shakespeare's days were occupied with affairs of the theatre. In addition to the great labor of writing his own plays, he was regularly acting in the company's performances and rewriting and revising old plays. He must have been extremely busy, rehearsing in the mornings, acting in the afternoons, writing and revising plays at night and in odd hours, and attending to his various business affairs whenever he could. It has been suggested that this sever strain led to some kind of break down in 1608, and there is evidence that Shakespeare's activities changed in that year. Before then, he seems to have furnished his company with about two plays a year, but after that date not more than five plays can be credited to him in the seven years before his death, and he wrote two or three of them with other dramatists.

He finally retired to Stratford in 1610 at the height of his success, and died in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday. It is also possible that a lifetime of drinking, wine and ale was drunk instead of water, took its toll. A persistent tale has William falling ill after a heavy drinking session with a party that included his old friend/rival Ben Jonson. The first collection of Shakespeare's plays was published in 1623 after his death. It is known as the First Folio. Shakespeare is buried in Stratford and was recorded, "Will Shakspeare gent", in the Stratford parish register on the 25th of April, 1616. Shakespeare's grave was given pride of place, in front of the altar of Holy Trinity Church.

Probable Date of First Performance	Title	Date of Publication	Chief Source
1590 - 1592	The Second Part of Henry The Sixth	1594	Holinshed, Chronicles
1590 - 1592	TheThirdPart of Henry The Sixth	1595	Holinshed, Chronicles
1590 - 1592	TheFirst Part of Henry The Sixth	1623	Holinshed, Chronicles
1591 - 1593	The Comedy of Errors	1623	Plautus, Menaechmi and Amphitruo
1593 - 1594	The Tragedy Of Titus Andronicus	1594	Unknown
1592 - 1593	The Tragedy of Richard The Third	1597	Holinshed, Chronicles
1594 - 1595	Love's Labor Lost	1598	Unknown
1593 - 1594	The Taming of the Shrew	1623	Anon., The Taming of a Shrew; Ariosto, I Suppositi
1594 - 1595	The Two Gentlemen Of Verona	1623	Montemayor, Diana

Probable Date of First Performance	Title	Date of Publication	Chief Source
1594 - 1595	The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet	1597	Brooke, The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet
1595 - 1596	The Tragedy Of King Richard The Second	1597	Holinshed, Chronicles
1595 - 1596	A Midsummer Night's Dream	1600	No single comprehensive sourse
1596 - 1597	The Life And Death Of King John	1623	Anon,., The Troublesome Raigne of John, King of England
1596 - 1597	The Merchant Of Venice	1600	Fiorentino, IL Pecorone
1597 - 1598	The History Of Henry The Fourth, Part One	1598	Holinshed, Chronicles: an old play, The Famous Victories of Henry V
1597 - 1598	The Second Part Of Henry The Fourth	1600	Holinshed, Chronicles: an old play, The Famous Victories of Henry V
1598 - 1599	Much Ado About Nothing	1600	Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques; Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, Canto V
1598 - 1599	The Life Of Henry the Fifth	1600	Holinshed, Chronicles
1599 - 1600	The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar	1623	Plutarch, Lives
1599 - 1600	As You Like It	1623	Lodge, Rosalynde
1599 - 1600	Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will	1623	Riche, Apolonius and Silla
1600 - 1601	The Merry Wives Of Windsor	1602	Unknown

Probable Date of First Performance	Title	Date of Publication	Chief Source
1600 - 1601	The Tragical History Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark	1603	The early play of Hamlet; Belleforest, Histories Tragiques
1601 - 1602	The History Of Troilus And Cressida	1609	Various popular medieval accounts of the story of Troy
1602 - 1603	All's Well That Ends Well	1623	Painter, Palace of Pleasure
1604 - 1605	Measure For Measure	1623	Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra
1604	The Tragedy Of Othello, The Moor Of Venice	1622	Cinthio, Hecatommithi
1605 - 1606	The Tragedy Of King Lear	1608	Anon., Chronicle History of King Lear; various popular accounts, and Sidney's Arcadia
1605 - 1606	The Tragedy Of Macbeth	1623	Holinshed, Chronicles
1606 - 1608	The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra	1623	Plutarch, Lives
1607 - 1608	The Tragedy Of Coriolanus	1623	Plutarch, Lives
1607 - 1608	The Life Of Timon Of Athens	1623	Plutarch, Lives; Lucian, Timon

Probable Date of First Performance	Title	Date of Publication	Chief Source
1607 - 1609	Pericleas, Prince Of Tyre	1609	Gower, Confessio Amantis
1609 - 1610	Cymbeline	1623	Boccaccio, Decameron; Holinshed, Chronicles
1610 - 1611	The Winter's Tale	1623	Grenne, Pandosto
1611 - 1612	The Tempest	1623	No comprehensive sourse
1613	The Life of King Henry The Eighth	1623	Holinshed, Chronicles; Foxe, Book of Martyrs
1612 - 1613	The Two Noble Kinsmen	1634	Chaucer, The Knight's Tale

Venus And Adonis (1593)

The Rape Of Lucrece (1594)

The Phoenix And The Turtle (?)

A Lover's Complaint*

The Passionate Pilgram*

The Sonnets (1609)

1564	April 26 - Baptism of William Shakespeare, the third child of John Shakespeare of Snitterfield and Mary of Arden of Wilmcote. Probably born on the 23rd.

1568	John Shakespeare becomes bailiff of Stratford. The Queen's Men puts on plays in the town.

1582	November 28 - William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway. She was born in 1556.

1583	May 26 - Baptism of first daughter, Susanna.

1585	The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born.

1587	The Queen's Men performs in Stratford. Shakespeare may have returned to London with the company.

1588	The destruction of the Spanish Armada.

1590	The first performances of the historical trilogy Henry VI.

1592	Philip Henslowe mentions a performance of Henry VI in his diary. The plague ravages London. Theatres are closed until 1594. Robert Greene's Groatsworth of Wit Brough with a Million of Repentance is the first public mention of Shakespeare as a playwright. In this article, he warns Christopher Marlowe "against an ingnorant newcomer, not educated at a university, who is shouldering his way into the profession." Also, he called Shakepeare, "an upstart Crow."

1593	Christopher Marlow is murdered in a tavern brawl.

1596	August 11 - Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a "gentleman" when the College of Heralds grants his father a coat of arms.

1597	Shakespeare buys a large home called "The Great House Of New Place", his Stratford home.

1598	The first publication of a play under Shakespeare's name - the quarto of Love's Labour's Lost.

1598-99	The Theatre in Shoreditch is dismantled by James Burbage and rebuilt as The Globe at Southwark.

1601	Performances of Richard II at the Globe.

1603	Queen ElizabethI dies. The Chamberlain's Men become the King's Men. In London thirty thousand die of the plague. King James I's arrival in the city is postponed by a year.

1604-05	The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliment led by Guy Fawkes is discovered.

1607	June 5 - Shakespeare's daughter Susanna marries John Hall, a well known doctor in Stratford.

1608	Shakespeare is one of the founders of Blackfriar's Theatre.

1610	The presumed year of Shakespeare's return to Stratford.

1612	Shakespeare testifies in the Belott-Mountjoy suit. The earliest surviving example of his signature is at the end of his deposition.

1613	June 29 - The Globe Theatre burns down during a performance of Henry VII when a canon fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but Shakespeare retires.

1616	February 10 - Shakespeare's daughter Judith marries Thomas Quiney. March 25 - Shakespeare signs his will. April 23 - Shakespeare dies on his 52nd birthday and is buried two days later.

1623	The death of Shakespeare's widow, Anne. The First Folio published by Robert Heminge and Henry Condell.

He was born in Canterbury, the son of a shoe maker, and educated at Cambridge. It is believed he may have been a government spy. Marlowe was murdered on May 30, 1593. It is unknown what really happened although the corner's report states he was stabbed above the right eye in a tavern brawl. At the time of his death, he was considered the greatest playwright in England. His works include: Tamburlaine The Great (1587 - 1588), Doctor Faustus (1588), The Jew of Malta (1590), and Edward II (1592). Edward II was possibly inspired by Shakespeare and described the dethronment of Edward II by his barons and French Queen.

None of his early work survives, but he is best known for The Spanish Tragedy (1587). Also, he may have written the first version of Hamlet before Shakespeare, and he may have contributed to Titus Andronicus and to Arden of Faversham, which at one time was incorrectly attributed to Shakespeare.

An unsuccessful actor, Jonson estblished himself as a playwright with Everyman in his Humour (1598). He was trained as a bricklayer and fought in a war in Flanders in which he distinguished himself. Shortly after he joined Henslow's company in 1597, he was almost executed for killing a fellow actor in a duel. Some of his works include: Volpone (1612), The Alchemist (1610), and The Devil is an Ass (1616).

Now is the winter of our discontent	King Richard III	I have no other but a woman's reason:	Two Gentleman of Verona
Made glourious summer by this sun of York	Act I, Sc. 1, 1-2	I think him so because I think him so.	Act I, Sc 2

He jests at scars, that never felt a wound	Romeo and Juliet	What's in a name? That which we call a rose	Romeo and Juliet
	Act II, Sc. 2, 1	By any other name would smell as sweet.	Act II, Sc 2, 43-44

Romeo. Courage, man. The hurt annot be much	Romeo and Juliet	A plague o' both your houses!	Romeo and Juliet
Mercutio. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide	Act III, Sc 1, 98-100		Act III, Sc. 1, 103
as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.

This royal throne of kings, this scept'red isle,	King Richard II	I see thy glory, like a shooting star,	King Richard II
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,	Act II, Sc 1, 40-50	Fall to the base earth from the firmament	Act II, Sc 4, 19-20
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.	King John
Could ever hear by tale or history,	Act I, Sc 1, 132-134	Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.	Act III, Sc 4, 108-109
The course of true love never did run smooth.

You are a dull and muddy-mettled rascal. - Hamlet (II,ii,562)

His brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage. - As You Like It (II, vii, 38-40)

She does abuse to our ears. - All's Well That Ends Well (V,iii,317)

You small grey-coated gnat. - Romeo and Juliet (I,iv,67)

Sweep on you fat and greasy citizens! - As You Like It (II,i,55)

You Motley-Minded Gentleman! - As You Like It (V,iv,40-41)

Your Face Is Not Worth Sunburning. - Henry V (V,ii,144)

You are ill met by moonlight. - A Midsummer Night's Dream (II, vi, 60)

You corrupter of words! - Twelfth Night (III, i, 37)

Thy brains are useless boiled within thy skull. - The Tempest (V,i,59)

Thy lips shall sweep the ground. - Henry VI, part 2 (IV,i, 74)

You mad mustachio purple-hued maltworm. - Hamlet (II,i,73)

Blister'd be thy tongue for such a wish. - Romeo & Juliet (III,ii,90)

Out, dunghill! - King Lear (IV,vi,24)

You worthless post! - Two Gentlemen Of Verona (I,i,147)

Will you not eat your words? - Much Ado About Nothing (IV,i,227)

Some strange commotion is in your brain. - Henry VI (III,ii,112)

You thorny hedgehogs, newts and blind worms! - A Midsummer Night'sDream (II,ii,10)

Thou art a very ragged wart. - Henry IV (III,ii,140)

You are duller than a great thaw. - Much Ado About Nothing (II,i,228)

There's many a man hath more hair than wit. - The Comedy of Errors (II,ii,81082)

He shall die a flea's death. - Merry Wives of Windsor (IIV,ii,138)

Why are you a fool? - Troilus and Cressida (II,iii,68)

Your horrid image doth infix my hair. - Macbeth (I,iii,125)

What wind blew you hither. - Henry IV, part two (V,ii,83)

I have seen small reflections of her wit. - Cymbeline (I,iii,29-30)

Toads, beetles, bats, light on you! - The Tempest (I,ii,342)

You long tongu'd babbling gossip! - Titus Andronicus (IV,ii,151)

Thy lips rot off. - Timon of Athens (IV,iii,64)

You candle-waster! - Much Ado About Nothing (V,i,18)

Such a dish of skim milk. - Henry IV, part one (II,iii,33)

You soft and dull-ey'd fool. - Merchant of Venice (III,iii,14)

Thou crusty botch of nature! - Troilus & Cressida (V,v,5)

You are a fishmonger. - Hamlet (II,ii,174)

You considerate stone! - Antony and Cleopatra (II,ii,110)

He has not so much brain as ear wax. - Troilus & Cressida (IV,i,51)

By this hand. I will supplement some of your teeth. - The Tempest (III,ii,47)

You are merely a dumb-show. - Much Ado About Nothing (II,iii,210)

Thou art a very ragged wart. - Henry IV, part 2 (III,ii,140)

Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain? - Othello (VI,i,265)

Well said brazen-face! - Merry Wives of Windsor (IV,ii,124)

O, there has been much throwing about of brains. - Hamlet (V,ii, 85-86)

Your chin is but enrich'd with one appearing hair. - Henry V (III, Chorus, 22-23)

This was based on the belief that the land belonged to God, but that the Kings, who ruled by divine right, managed the land, and used it as they wished. The Kings needed the good will and support of the Nobles and Knights so they granted them lands in return for their military services. The Nobles and Knights would in turn grant some of their lands to Freemen. Life lived under the Medieval Feudal System demanded that everyone owed allegiance to the King and their immediate superior. Everyone was expected to pay for the land by providing services such as chores, providing soldiers for the King, and providing clothes and weapons for the soldiers. The order, which the Medieval Feudal System was as follows:

The Pope: The head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Western World.

The King: The one who rules the land and is a monarch.

Archbishop (Bishop & Clerics could move up the ranks): A bishop ranking above other bishops in an ecclesiastical province.

Nobles: A class of persons set apart by high birth or rank. (Lords and Ladies)

Knights (Squires & Pages could move up the ranks): Knights were highborn medieval gentleman-soldiers raised by a sovereign to privileged military status after training as a Squire.

Bishops & Clerics: A Bishop is a high-ranking Christian cleric and a cleric is a man who is ordained for religious service.

Squires & Pages: Young feudal nobleman, attendant on a Knight, and ranked next below a Knight.

Maidens: Unmarried women of noble birth, and were pursued by Knights and Lords.

Freemen: Free people who were not bound to the land, but did pay a fixed rent to a Lord. Usually, these men belonged to a guild.

Yeomen: A man who owns and works a small farm.

Servants: Those that served Nobles and Kings in their residences and castles. A Nurse is an attendant for a Maiden.

Villeins: A class of feudal serfs holding the legal status of freemen in their dealings with all persons except their lord.

Serfs: Compromising of tenant peasant farmers and labors owned by a Lord and bound to the land.

Bondsmen or Slaves: Those that are forced to work or perform hard labor with out wages.

The word “guild” is from the Saxon “gilden” meaning, "to pay" and refers to the subscription paid by the members. Freemen could achieve a higher social status, through guild membership, and Guild members were supported by the Guild if they became sick. There were two main kinds of guilds - merchant guilds and craft guilds. A man would have to work through three phases to become an elite member of a Medieval Guild.

Apprentice - A Medieval Guild Apprentice was sent to work for a 'Master' during his early teens. The Apprenticeship lasted between 5 and 9 years depending on the trade. During this time the apprentice received no wages - just his board, lodging and training. An Apprentice was not allowed to marry until he reached the status of a Journeyman.

Journeyman - A Medieval Guild Journeyman was paid for his labor. During this time the Journeyman would create his 'Masterpiece', in his own time, which he would present to the Guild as evidence of his craftsmanship in the hope of being accepted as a 'Master'. It was difficult to reach the status of 'Master' and much depended on the Journeyman's standing and acceptance by the top members of the Guild.

Master - A Medieval Guild Master craftsman could set up his own workshop and train his own apprentices.