How did William Shakespeare die?

Answer 1

Shakespeare's deathFrom the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"On 23 April 1616 Shakespeare died. John Ward, a clergyman living in Stratford in the 1660s, recorded that 'Shakespear, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and itt seems drank too hard, for Shakespear died of a feavour there contracted' (Chambers, 2.250). The story is not impossible but quite what Shakespeare died from is unknown."
(Fractured spellings from the original source)

Germaine Greer speculates that he may have caught syphilis. He certainly had a "French crown". Does anyone know of a medical person who has evaluated this clergyman's story (a hearsay tale, I note, since he doesn't say HE was getting drunk with Shakespeare and Jonson)? I thought getting drunk gave you a hangover, not a fever.

Answer 2

Shakespeare's death

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"On 23 April 1616 Shakespeare died. John Ward, a clergyman, living in Stratford in the 1660s, recorded that 'Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted (Chambers, 2.250) The story is not impossible but quite what Shakespeare died from is unknown."

Answer 3

Shakespeare's death

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"On 23 April 1616 Shakespeare died. John Ward, a clergyman, living in Stratford in the 1660s, recorded that 'Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted (Chambers, 2.250). The story is not impossible but quite what Shakespeare died from is unknown."