In his will Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his descendents, especially daughter Susanna and her husband. Daughter Judith was less favored, and the will sought to keep her inheritance from her husband. Shakespeare left small bequests to his partners in the King's Men, including Condell and Heminges, who would print his collected works in 1623.

Much has been made over the fact that he left his wife Anne "the second best bed." Some have speculated that because he spent so much time away from Stratford and, according to the sonnets, had had at least one passionate extramarital affair, his leaving his wife this particular piece of furniture was intended as an insult. More likely the provision was a perfectly ordinary arrangement. The best bed in a large Elizabethan household was usually reserved for company; Shakespeare and his wife would have used "the second best bed." As a widow of a country gentleman Anne was already entitled to a third of the estate if she so desired.

Shakespeare died in April of 1616 and was buried on April 23, his 52 birthday, in the church at Stratford. One legend has it that Ben Jonson came up to visit from London and the two went out carousing until late. Shakespeare caught a cold, which probably turned into pneumonia and died within a few days. In the church the funeral bust shown here was placed on his grave, as befitted a prominent gentleman. Under the bust is a short verse, which warns the reader, "Curst be he that moves these bones." This is a reference to the rather morbid practice of digging up the remains of forgotten people buried in the highly sought locations inside the church and reselling the sites. There is no evidence that Shakespeare wrote the verse.

The First Folio of Shakespeare's collected works was printed seven years after his death. Relying on manuscripts left with the King's Men, Condell and Heminges arranged and paid for the publication themselves. There were 36 plays included, organized roughly into tragedies, histories and comedies. (Two plays written as collaborations, Pericles and Two Nobleman Kinsmen, were omitted, but most scholars now include them as part of the canon or recognized works of Shakespeare.) The portrait shown here was on the title page, as was a dedicatory verse from Ben Jonson which stated that his friend "was not of an age but for all time."

For about 150 years Shakespeare was just one of a number of English playwrights whose works were performed. Then about 200 years after his birth there was an upsurge of interest in him as an artist and a man. Literary tourists flocked to Stratford, so infuriating the man who owned Shakespeare's old home at New Place that he tore the building down to stop trespassers. The first serious work questioning whether or not Shakespeare actually wrote the plays came about 80 years later. Significantly none of the men who worked daily with Shakespeare ever questioned that he was the writer of the plays.