Although we have many records of his life as a citizen of Stratford, including marriage and birth certificates, little is known about William Shakespeare"s early life and formal education. Due to his success, many would assume that Shakespeare was born and raised in a wealthy noble family but he was actually raised in what would have been considered a middle class family in their time. He was born to middle class parents who lived in Henley Street, Stratford. His father, John, a local businessman made a living as a glove maker and owned his own leather shop. He was a well-known and much respected man that held several important local governmental positions including that of Borough ale-taster to bailiff, the highest public position of office in Stratford.

             William spent most of his childhood in the small English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. In the sixteenth century, the town was an important agricultural center and market place. "It is safe to assume that Shakespeare attended the local grammar school that was built and maintained expressly for the purpose of educating the sons of prominent citizens with the sons of burgesses attending free."1 "The King's New School was staffed with a faculty of teachers who held Oxford degrees, and whose curriculum included mathematics, natural sciences, Latin language and rhetoric, logic, Christian ethics, and classical literature."2 As well as a strong grounding at grammar school, the other significant educational opportunity afforded all middle-class Elizabethans was the mandatory attendance at church where they read either the Geneva or the Bishops' Bible. The 'Authorized" or King James Bible was not studied by William, as it was not published until the year 1611. Shakespeare did not continue his education and attend the university, since university education was reserved for prospective clergymen and was not a particularly mind-opening experience.