Was Shakespeare born on Easter?
This website (http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-k...lagulous=15%29) gives Easter dates in the 1500's. Unfortunately, the dates shown are for the Gregorian calendar, which wasn't used in England until after Shakespeare died. The website says Easter fell on April 12 in 1564. I think that means that in the Julian calendar, Easter of 1564 was on April 23 - Shakespeare's birthday.
There are many references to Shakespeare being born on St George's Day, but I haven't been able to find any reference to Easter coinciding with that date in 1564, which makes me doubt my above calculation.
If Shakespeare was indeed born on Easter, that fits in neatly with my theory that there was a rebirth motif in Hamlet: http://www.thyorisons.com/#Rebirth - The Rebirth of Hamlet
This reference claims Easter was on April 9, 1564-5.
This reference claims Easter of 1564 was on April 9 on the Julian calendar.
William Shakespeare: his family and friends - Google Books Result
Charles Isaac Elton, Alexander Hamilton Thompson, Andrew Lang - 1904 - Biography & Autobiography - 521 pages
ordinary tables for finding Easter, we see that Easter Sunday fell on April gth, in the Julian year 1564, or 1564-5 old style. ... The next is Sunday, April 23rd, St. George's Day ; the next again is Tuesday, April 25th, St. Mark's Day; ...
books.google.com/books?id=zg8MAQAAIAAJ...
I think the discrepancy is because of the year. Probably this reference is correct and the other is wrong because it didn't account for the different year begin date. But I'm still looking for additional verification.