eve to be Shakespeare at best had only a grammar school education, and he is not known to have traveled beyond Stratford and London. How could he have accumulated the vast knowledge of royalty, court life, politics, and foreign lands–particularly of Italy, where several plays are set? Whoever wrote the plays and sonnets had a rare breadth of knowledge in numerous disciplines, including physical sciences, medicine, the law, astronomy, and the Bible. All of this leads to the thought that Shakespeare had to be a man of aristocracy. According to Joseph Sobran:
             • A single line from the Stratford parish register from April 1564 records Mr. Shakspere's baptism: '26 Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere xxx.'
             • Similarly terse entries record the christenings of his three brothers and two sisters. No other document mentions William Shakspere himself for eighteen years. Stratford had a grammar school, which he may or may not have attended. Because of his father's status as alderman and bailiff, he would have been entitled to attend the school, but the record, as we have it, tells us nothing.
             • His name next appears in a diocesan register of betrothals for November 27, 1582, showing that 'wm Shaxpere' and a woman identified as 'Anna whitely de Temple grafton&apos
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