Shakespeare "disappeared" afer the christening of his twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585 when he was 21.
He re-appears seven years later, in London, as a playwright of some standing. In the meantime, he has been a lawyer's clerk, a poacher, a seaman, a soldier and a schoolteacher! All of these ativities imagined by his various biographes. If he was the former, a lawyer's clerk, he stayed just long enough to grasp the basics of English Common Law, he was supposed to have been run out of Stratford for killing a deer, but deer were introdced to the estate in 1619, Shakespeare died in 1616. It has been said, that he went round the world with Sir Francis Drake as a 12 year old cabin boy, but a 12 year old Shakespeare was safely tucked up in Stratford learnng Latin in school. During his 'absence', it was rumoured he fought in the Netherlands, against the tyranny of invading Spain, and helped to keep Antwerp a free trade area for English wool. Finally, a schoolteacher in a big Lancashire house. There is a smattering of evidence for this, but biographers strangely have not developed it, suffice to say, from say 15 to 18, the age he was married, Shakespeare would hire a horse every Christmastide, and journey the 18 mies from Stratford to Coventry, there, he would witness the 48 play cycle of the Life of Mary, the Miracle Plays, which were to make a profound impression on him for the rest of his life.
