PROB 8/16, folio 155 recto
Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.
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The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225 Fax: 020 8392 5266.
Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Probate Act Book
Date: 1615-1616
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 8/16, fol. 155r-v
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PROB 8/16, folio 155 verso
Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.
Terms of use
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225 Fax: 020 8392 5266.
Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Probate Act Book
Date: 1615-1616
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 8/16, fol. 155r-v
View online bibliographic record
Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.
Terms of use
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225 Fax: 020 8392 5266.
Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Probate Act Book
Date: 1615-1616
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 8/16, fol. 155r-v
View online bibliographic record
The original copy of Shakespeare’s last will and testament was probated on June 22, 1616, and an entry in the parchment register, shown here, was made recording the date of probate.
After Shakespeare's death in April 1616, one or both of his executors—Susanna and John Hall-- delivered his will to the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in London, for probate and to be copied into a parchment register.
Shakespeare’s original will, the entry of probate shown here, and the registered copy survive. Other associated documents, such as an inventory of his goods, do not survive and were presumably lost with other Prerogative Court inventories for this date in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
For more on wills in Shakespeare's England, see Alan Nelson's essay.
Co-written by Folger Shakespeare Library staff and Alan H. Nelson
Last updated July 8, 2020
