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It's now the 400th anniversary of The Bard's death. He's best known for enriching English Literature with his fantastic plays and sonnets, which are still relevant and poignant today.

However, he also contributed something else to the world - he coined and used some absolutely excellent insults throughout his work.

These are all far more cutting and verbose than swearing, and won't make you known for having a potty mouth.

William Shakespeare: truly a genius. Here are some of the best.

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15 great William Shakespeare insults which are better than swearing

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It's now the 400th anniversary of The Bard's death. He's best known for enriching English Literature with his fantastic plays and sonnets, which are still relevant and poignant today. However, he also contributed something else to the world - he coined and used some absolutely excellent insults throughout his work.

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Elizabethan Clothing
The section and era covering Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion includes extensive information regarding all elements of clothing and fashion during the Elizabethan era. The subjects range from the type of clothing regarded as Upper Class Fashion - rich, sumptuous materials and elegant styles to clothes worn by the lower classes using basic materials. Each item of Elizabethan clothing has been designed.

Picture of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabethan Women's Clothing - gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes. Elizabethan Men's Clothing - doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes. For additional information of the period please click the following link to Tudor Clothes.

We recommend the following site for: Facts and information about Medieval Clothing

The Hair styles, Make-up, Jewelry and even suitable Wedding Dress has also been included. But the most alien concepts of the Elizabethan era was that, regardless of their wealth, Elizabethans were not allowed to wear what clothes they liked. Their clothing and items of apparel were dictated by the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws which governed the style and materials worn.

The Sumptuary Laws - Enforcing statutes of Apparel - Governing Elizabethan Clothing.
The Elizabethan Sumptuary Clothing Laws were used to control behaviour and to ensure that a specific class structure was maintained. English Sumptuary Laws governing the clothing that Elizabethans wore were well known by all of the English people. The penalties for violating Sumptuary Laws could be harsh - fines, the loss of property, title and even life.

Elizabethan Clothing for Men

Elizabethan Clothing for Women

Elizabethan Clothing
Additional details, facts and information about Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Elizabethan Clothing

Upper Class Clothing and Fashion

Women's Clothing and Fashion - gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes

Men's Clothing and Fashion - doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes

Hair styles

Make-up

Jewelry

Wedding Dress clothing and garb

Sumptuary Laws governing Elizabethan Clothing

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Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Elizabethan Clothing

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Elizabethan Clothing The section and era covering Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion includes extensive information regarding all elements of clothing and fashion during the Elizabethan era. The subjects range from the type of clothing regarded as Upper Class Fashion - rich, sumptuous materials and elegant styles to clothes worn by the lower classes using basic materials.

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Next time you're at the local bar's quiz night, and the question has something to do with state birds, guess cardinal. That is, if you're otherwise unsure. Seven U.S. states use the cardinal for their representative plumed pal. Seven out of fifty odds isn't bad for a guess.

Likewise, if you're trying to guess who made up a certain word or phrase, guess William Shakespeare. The chances aren't quite seven out of fifty, but they're probably close. A quick internet search will turn up plenty of helpful lists of words and phrases invented by Shakespeare. Seriously, try it. We're not sending you on some hopeless pursuit. In fact, since we're feeling giving, and because you can always use more nice stuff, we offer you a starter guide with our own idiosyncratic take.

Or, in the Bard's words, we should say: we're not sending you on a wild goose chase, andsince we're feeling generous, and because you can't have too much of a good thing, we offer you a starter guide with our own zany take.

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A Starter Guide to Phrases Coined by Shakespeare

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Next time you're at the local bar's quiz night, and the question has something to do with state birds, guess cardinal. That is, if you're otherwise unsure. Seven U.S. states use the cardinal for their representative plumed pal. Seven out of fifty odds isn't bad for a guess.

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When, Where, How Did William Shakespeare Die? Cause Of Death

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200,000 ASK GOOGLE about Shakespeare's death. Get the story, get the facts.

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Summary
A rambling half-timbered house on Henley Street where, it is believed, Shakespeare was born and spent his childhood years. By the time the house was purchased by a charitable trust in 1847 it had fallen into great disrepair. A careful program of refurbishment and restoration was carried out, and a modern visitor centre more lately added, so that today's visitor can get a good glimpse into what Shakespeare's early life would have been like.

William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, moved to Stratford with his wife Mary in 1529. We know that by 1552 they were resident in Henley Street, so it seems likely that William lived here upon his birth 12 years later. We do not know for certain that this was the house where he ws born, but it sems very likely, given that the house was in the ownership of the Shakespeare family for over two centuries after his death.

A modern visitor centre is attached to the house, and here you will find detailed exhibits covering Shakespeare's work, his life, and times. The visitor centre is extremely well done, and contains a wealth of detail on Shakespeare's life and career. One of the most intriguing exhibits is a scale model of the Globe Theatre in London, in which Shakespeare was part owner.

The house itself is relatively simple, but for the time period of the late 16th century it would have been considered quite a substantial dwelling. There are interesting displays of family life, with period domestic furnishings, and John Shakespeare's glove making workshop laid out ready for the day's work. One of the more fascionating displays is a glass window inscribed with the signatures of visitors to the house over the centuries. Among the scratched signatures are some famous names in literature and the theatre, including actress Ellen Terry and novelists Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens.

There is also a display relating the peculiar tale of Mrs Hornby. This redoubtable lady was a tenant and custodian of Shakespeare's Birhplace in the early 19th century. When her rent was increaed in 1820 Mrs Hornby left in a huff, and subsequently moved across Henley Street, and there set up a shop displaying what she claimed were genune Shakespeare curiosities. This 'unofficial' Shakespeare centre vied with the 'official' house across the road for the time - and money - of curious visitors.

To the rear of the house are small, peaceful gardens, planted with flowers and herbs that would have been known at Shakespeare's time.

Our verdict
A fascinating place to visit, with one caveat; the house is small, and was never meant for the number of visitors it now receives. Passage through the building can be awkward, and it is sometimes difficult to get a clear look at the exhibits and the structure of the house due to the press of humanity all about you. The guides are very good, and friendly, and do their best to answer questions. My advice is to visit as soon as the house opens, before the tours descend en masse.

About Shakespeare's Birthplace
Address: Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, CV37 6QW
Attraction Type: Historic Building
Website: Shakespeare's Birthplace
Email: info@shakespeare.org.uk
Phone: 01789 204016
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Location map
OS: SP200 551
Photo Credit: David Ross and Britain Express

Find other attractions tagged with:

16th century (Time Period) - 19th century (Time Period) - Restoration (Historical Reference) - Shakespeare (Person) - William Shakespeare (Person) -

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Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon | Historic Stratford Guide

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Summary A rambling half-timbered house on Henley Street where, it is believed, Shakespeare was born and spent his childhood years. By the time the house was purchased by a charitable trust in 1847 it had fallen into great disrepair.

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shakespearean insults 2017 day-to-day calendar

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Shakespearean Insults 2017 Day-to-Day Calendar

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When contemporary smack talk just won't do, the Shakespearean Insults 2017 Day-to-Day Calendar is at the ready with a sharp-witted, scathing verbal blow just waiting to be delivered with an Elizabethan flourish.Featuring quotations from a variety of Shakespeare's plays, this daily calenda...

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Uploaded by Mrs. Anderson on 2016-05-31.

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Shakespeare's Influence on the English Language

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At what age did Shakespeare die?

William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, his 52nd birthday. In truth, the exact date of Shakespeare's death is not known but assumed from a record of his burial two days later, 25 April 1616, at Holy Trinity Church. Stratford Upon Avon, where his grave remains.

Where did Shakespeare die?

In 1610 Shakespeare left his working life in London and lived in retirement with his wife in Stratford-upon-Avon's second largest property - New House. It is believed that Shakespeare's death occurred in New House, where he would have been attended by his son-in-law Dr John Hall, the local physician.

How did Shakespeare die?

We don't know the cause of Shakespeare's death, but there is a theory that Shakespeare died after contracting a fever following a drinking binge with fellow playwrights Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton. The source of this theory is John Ward, the vicar of Holy Trinity Church in, who wrote many years after Shakespeare's death that "Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard; for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted." Most historians agree, however, that given Stratford-upon-Avon's reputation for scandalous stories and rumors in the 17th Century this an overblown anecdote with no base in fact.

A more convincing theory is that Shakespeare was sick for over a month before he died. The evidence comes from the fact that on 25 March 1616 (just 4 weeks before his death) Shakespeare dictated his will - in keeping with the 17 th Century tradition of drawing up wills on one's deathbed. This suggests Shakespeare could have been aware his life was coming to an end. Some scholars also point to his signature on his will being somewhat shaky, giving evidence of his frailty at the time.

Despite all of the theories, the cause of Shakespeare's death at the age of just 52 will likely remain a mystery. But living in Elizabethan England where the average life expectancy was just 35 years, Shakespeare died a grandfather after living a relatively long and healthy life.

Did Shakespeare die poor?

Shakespeare died a wealthy man. His plays were very popular and his London theatres were booked out every day, ensuring a good income. At the end of his life he owned several properties in London and Stratford. He left generous amounts of money to friends and relatives.

It is sometimes thought that he died poor because he left his second best bed to his wife. It was a loving gesture because it was the custom to reserve the best bed for guests and to sleep in the second best bed. That is where the couple slept together, where their children were conceived and born, and probably where Shakespeare died. He knew, too that his wife would be taken care of after his death, and would continue to live in the matrimonial home.

What were Shakespeare's last words?

Nobody knows for sure what Shakespeare's last words were, as he died in the privacy of his close family and there are no known reports of his death. However, in anticipation of his death, Shakespeare wrote a few words to be inscribed on his tomb, to ensure that once buried no-one would dig him up to move his body to somewhere else. Shakespeare's epitaph reads:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read about Shakespeare's life >>
Read about Shakespeare timeline >>
Read about Shakespeare biography >>
Read about Shakespeare's early childhood >>
Read about Shakespeare's teenage years >>
Read about Shakespeare's lost years >>
Read about Shakespeare's London years >>
Read about Shakespeare's final years >>
Read about Shakespeare's death >>

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Shakespeare's Death: How Did Shakespeare Die?

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William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, his 52nd birthday. In truth, the exact date of Shakespeare's death is not known but assumed from a record of his burial two days later, 25 April 1616, at Holy Trinity Church. Stratford Upon Avon, where his grave remains.

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Shakespeare's family :: Life and Times :: Internet Shakespeare Editions

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Edmund Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1580. The next mention of him which survives is the baptism of his son Edward at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, on July 12, 1607; however, this son was buried at St. Giles' Cripplegate exactly a month later, on August 12, 1607.

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John Shakespeare - William's father - lived and worked in the house known today as Shakespeare's Birthplace. John married Mary Arden in about 1557 and William was born in 1564, the third of their eight children.

In 1568 John became the Mayor of Stratford, which was the highest elective office in the town. It was because of his father's status as Mayor that William was privileged enough to have attended the local grammar school to begin his education.

In 1582, at the age of 18, William married Anne Hathaway. The young couple continued to live with his parents in the Birthplace. It is where their own children, Susanna, Judith and Hamnet were born.

John Shakespeare died in 1601 and being the eldest surviving son, William inherited the house. William leased the small, two-room cottage adjoining the main house to his sister, Joan Hart. The remainder of the family home was also leased and became an inn, called the Maidenhead. It was later renamed the Swan and Maidenhead Inn, which remain in operation until 1847. When Shakespeare died in 1616 he left the property to his elder daughter Susanna, and when she died she left it to her only child, Elizabeth.

Although she married twice, Elizabeth had no children. When she died in 1670 the house passed to a descendant of Joan Hart. The Hart family owned the property until 1806 when it was sold to Thomas Court, a butcher. The whole property was put up for sale in 1846, following the death of Court's widow.

In order to save the building where William Shakespeare was born a public campaign was launched, supported by Charles Dickens. The property was purchased at auction by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1847 for £3,000. We have cared for it ever since.

For the official guidebook of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust visit our online shop.

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Visit William Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK and explore Shakespeare's childhood world, right where it all began.

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Considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and known as England's national poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright. To this day, countless theater festivals around the world honor his work, students memorize his eloquent poems and scholars reinterpret the million words of text he composed. They also hunt for clues about the life of the man who inspires such "bardolatry" (as George Bernard Shaw derisively called it), much of which remains shrouded in mystery. Born into a family of modest means in Elizabethan England, the "Bard of Avon" wrote at least 37 plays and a collection of sonnets, established the legendary Globe theater and helped transform the English language.

Shakespeare's Childhood and Family Life

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a bustling market town 100 miles northwest of London, and baptized there on April 26, 1564. His birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23, which was the date of his death in 1616 and is the feast day of St. George, the patron saint of England. Shakespeare's father, John, dabbled in farming, wood trading, tanning, leatherwork, money lending and other occupations; he also held a series of municipal positions before falling into debt in the late 1580s. The ambitious son of a tenant farmer, John boosted his social status by marrying Mary Arden, the daughter of an aristocratic landowner. Like John, she may have been a practicing Catholic at a time when those who rejected the newly established Church of England faced persecution.

Did you know? Sources from William Shakespeare's lifetime spell his last name in more than 80 different ways, ranging from "Shappere" to "Shaxberd." In the handful of signatures that have survived, he himself never spelled his name "William Shakespeare," using variations such as "Willm Shakspere" and "William Shakspeare" instead.

William was the third of eight Shakespeare children, of whom three died in childhood. Though no records of his education survive, it is likely that he attended the well-regarded local grammar school, where he would have studied Latin grammar and classics. It is unknown whether he completed his studies or abandoned them as an adolescent to apprentice with his father.

At 18 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (1556-1616), a woman eight years his senior, in a ceremony thought to have been hastily arranged due to her pregnancy. A daughter, Susanna, was born less than seven months later in May 1583. Twins Hamnet and Judith followed in February 1585. Susanna and Judith would live to old age, while Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died at 11. As for William and Anne, it is believed that the couple lived apart for most of the year while the bard pursued his writing and theater career in London. It was not until the end of his life that Shakespeare moved back in with Anne in their Stratford home.

Shakespeare's Lost Years and Early Career

To the dismay of his biographers, Shakespeare disappears from the historical record between 1585, when his twins' baptism was recorded, and 1592, when the playwright Robert Greene denounced him in a pamphlet as an "upstart crow" (evidence that he had already made a name for himself on the London stage). What did the newly married father and future literary icon do during those seven "lost" years? Historians have speculated that he worked as a schoolteacher, studied law, traveled across continental Europe or joined an acting troupe that was passing through Stratford. According to one 17th-century account, he fled his hometown after poaching deer from a local politician's estate.

Whatever the answer, by 1592 Shakespeare had begun working as an actor, penned several plays and spent enough time in London to write about its geography, culture and diverse personalities with great authority. Even his earliest works evince knowledge of European affairs and foreign countries, familiarity with the royal court and general erudition that might seem unattainable to a young man raised in the provinces by parents who were probably illiterate. For this reason, some theorists have suggested that one or several authors wishing to conceal their true identity used the person of William Shakespeare as a front. (Most scholars and literary historians dismiss this hypothesis, although many suspect Shakespeare sometimes collaborated with other playwrights.)

Shakespeare's Plays and Poems

Shakespeare's first plays, believed to have been written before or around 1592, encompass all three of the main dramatic genres in the bard's oeuvre: tragedy ("Titus Andronicus"); comedy ("The Two Gentlemen of Verona," "The Comedy of Errors" and "The Taming of the Shrew"); and history (the "Henry VI" trilogy and "Richard III"). Shakespeare was likely affiliated with several different theater companies when these early works debuted on the London stage. In 1594 he began writing and acting for a troupe known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men (renamed the King's Men when James I appointed himself its patron), ultimately becoming its house playwright and partnering with other members to establish the legendary Globe theater in 1599.

Between the mid-1590s and his retirement around 1612, Shakespeare penned the most famous of his 37-plus plays, including "Romeo and Juliet," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Macbeth" and "The Tempest." As a dramatist, he is known for his frequent use of iambic pentameter, meditative soliloquies (such as Hamlet's ubiquitous "To be, or not to be" speech) and ingenious wordplay. His works weave together and reinvent theatrical conventions dating back to ancient Greece, featuring assorted casts of characters with complex psyches and profoundly human interpersonal conflicts. Some of his plays-notably "All's Well That Ends Well," "Measure for Measure" and "Troilus and Cressida"-are characterized by moral ambiguity and jarring shifts in tone, defying, much like life itself, classification as purely tragic or comic.

Also remembered for his non-dramatic contributions, Shakespeare published his first narrative poem-the erotic "Venus and Adonis," intriguingly dedicated to his close friend Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton-while London theaters were closed due to a plague outbreak in 1593. The many reprints of this piece and a second poem, "The Rape of Lucrece," hint that during his lifetime the bard was chiefly renowned for his poetry. Shakespeare's famed collection of sonnets, which address themes ranging from love and sensuality to truth and beauty, was printed in 1609, possibly without its writer's consent. (It has been suggested that he intended them for his intimate circle only, not the general public.) Perhaps because of their explicit sexual references or dark emotional character, the sonnets did not enjoy the same success as Shakespeare's earlier lyrical works.

Shakespeare's Death and Legacy

Shakespeare died at age 52 of unknown causes on April 23, 1616, leaving the bulk of his estate to his daughter Susanna. (Anne Hathaway, who outlived her husband by seven years, famously received his "second-best bed.") The slabstone over Shakespeare's tomb, located inside a Stratford church, bears an epitaph-written, some say, by the bard himself-warding off grave robbers with a curse: "Blessed be the man that spares these stones, / And cursed be he that moves my bones." His remains have yet to be disturbed, despite requests by archaeologists keen to reveal what killed him.

In 1623, two of Shakespeare's former colleagues published a collection of his plays, commonly known as the First Folio. In its preface, the dramatist Ben Jonson wrote of his late contemporary, "He was not of an age, but for all time." Indeed, Shakespeare's plays continue to grace stages and resonate with audiences around the world, and have yielded a vast array of film, television and theatrical adaptations. Furthermore, Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any other writer in history, coining-or, at the very least, popularizing-terms and phrases that still regularly crop up in everyday conversation. Examples include the words "fashionable" ("Troilus and Cressida"), "sanctimonious" ("Measure for Measure"), "eyeball" ("A Midsummer Night's Dream") and "lackluster" ("As You Like It"); and the expressions "foregone conclusion" ("Othello"), "in a pickle" ("The Tempest"), "wild goose chase" ("Romeo and Juliet") and "one fell swoop" ("Macbeth").

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Considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and known as England's national poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright. To this day, countless theater festivals around the world honor his work, students memorize his eloquent poems and scholars reinterpret the million words of text he composed.