Shakespeare’s siblings and Tudor Age mortality.
Shakespeare was one of eight siblings, four sisters and four brothers. I am always very interested in Shakespeare’s family because it demonstrates something common before the advent of modern medicine; death.
The first child of the Shakespeare family was Joan, who died of the plague a few months later. Margret died at only one years old. The fourth child was Gilbert who lived to the age of 46. When the Shakespeare’s gave birth to another girl, they named her after the first sister, Joan. Unlike the previous Joan, she lived to the grand age of 77. Anne however would die at the age of eight. Richard, the seventh in line, would die at the age of 39, which was around the average life expectancy. The last Shakespeare child was Edmund, who was only 27 when he died a penniless actor.
Shakespeare himself lived to the rife old age of 52. Out of eight siblings, three did not make it to their tenth birthday, half did not see thirty, and only one (Joan II) would live past 55.
Today in the developed world the average life expectancy is around 75-80 years depending on what country you live in. Many less developed nations still have high child mortality rates with low life expectancy. We have it pretty good I would say. Puts things in perspective.