This book tackles a much neglected issue–what measure of success, in financial terms, did Shakespeare enjoy? By re-examining the considerable body of surviving information about his business dealings, we can track his progress from a very low base due to his father’s business failure and his own imprudent marriage to one of comfortable means–but, it is strongly argued here not, as it often vaguely assumed, to one of great wealth. Instead, as is clear from the circumstances of his daughter’s marriages and from his own efforts towards the end of his life to protect his assets, he cannot be shown to have achieved convincing gentry status even in the context of a midlands market town. On the other hand, especially when compared with his father’s career, it is clear that he appreciated the importance of business credit and the need to avoid over-ambitious ventures.