On This Day In History: Shakespeare’s King Lear Performed Before The Court Of King James I – On Dec 26, 1606

AncientPages.com - On December 26, 1606, William Shakespeare performed his play 'King Lear' before the court of King James I at Whitehall Palace.

Shakespeare's friend and noted fellow actor, Richard Burbage, was the original Lear.

King Lear, George Frederick Bensell. Imahe credit: George Frederick Bensell - The Knohl Collection - Public Domain

An anonymous play," The True Chronicle History of the life and death of King Leir and his three daughters," was performed as long ago as 1594. However, some scholars believe that Shakespeare's close knowledge of it must have derived from the study of it on the printed page.

It is generally agreed that Shakespeare wrote his version of the story sometime between 1605 to 1606. It places the play just after the writing of Timon of Athens and before that of Macbeth, Antony, and Cleopatra.

King Lear was first printed in 1608.

Shakespeare's seventeenth-century audience would have been familiar with the story of King Lear through a combination of myth, legend, and history.

Shakespeare's earliest plays, including The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew, were written in the early 1590s. Later in the decade, he wrote Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595) and comedies, including The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597).

His most famous tragedies were written after 1600, and these include Hamlet (1600-01), Othello (1604-05), King Lear (1605-06), and Macbeth (1605-1606).

He became a member of the famous theater group the Lord Chamberlain's Men, who later became the King's Men. The group built and operated the famous Globe Theater in 1599.

Shakespeare finally became a significant shareholder in the troupe and earned enough money to buy a large house in Stratford in 1597.

Shakespeare's plays were not published during his lifetime.

Meanwhile, he had written more than 100 sonnets, which were published in 1609.

After his death, two troupe members collected copies of his plays and printed what is now called the First Folio (1623).

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