Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) Anne Hathaway (1556 – 6 August 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare, the English poet, playwright and actor. They were married in 1582, when he was 18 and she was 26 years old. She outlived her husband by seven years. Very little is known about her beyond a few references in legal documents, but her personality and relationship to Shakespeare have been the subject of much speculation by many historians and creative writers. Hathaway is believed to have grown up in Shottery, a village just to the west of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. She is
Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) small house. The bequest was thus not as minor as it might seem in modern times. In Elizabethan custom the best bed in the house was reserved for guests. If so, then the bed that Shakespeare bequeathed to Anne could have been their marital bed, and thus not intended to insult her. However, the will as initially drafted did not mention Anne at all. It was only through a series of additions, made on March 25, 1616, slightly less than a month before Shakespeare died, that the bequest to his wife of his "second best bed with the furniture" was