Shakespeare's burial is recorded in Stratford's parish register as having taken place on 25 April 1616. On his monument, inside Stratford's parish church, we read that he died on 23 April. His gravestone, below the monument, does not bear his name, but was believed to be Shakespeare's from at least 1656, and is the first in a row which commemorates other members of his family. We do not know the cause of Shakespeare's death. He made his will on 25 March, almost a month before he died, in which he describes himself as 'in perfect health & memorie, god be praysed'. However, this was a conventional phrase and does not necessarily mean he was not already experiencing symptoms of an illness which later proved fatal. Moreover, his will of 25 March is, apparently, a re-drafting of one made in the January before, suggesting he may have been ill over an even longer period. What this illness may have been, however, we just do not know.