William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, a small town of about 1,500 people northwest of London. John Shakespeare, William's father, made his living primarily as a tanner and a glover but also traded wool and grain from time to time. John Shakespeare also served (although not at one time) as the town ale taster (inspector of bread and malt), a petty constable, city chamberlain, alderman, and high bailiff (like a mayor), the city's highest public office. Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother, brought a long and impressive family lineage to her marriage to John, one that traces itself back to William the Conqueror. In the mid-1570s, John Shakespeare's fortune began to decline mysteriously (some say it was because of his wife's Catholicism, although that claim is unsubstantiated), and it was largely mortgages made on properties Mary brought to the marriage that helped to sustain the family.
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