William Shakespeare teamed up with a group of actors armed with daggers, swords and axes to steal an entire theatre and rebuild it as The Globe, a 400-year-old document has revealed.

The tale of how Shakespeare’s company flattened its first theatre on the banks of the River Thames and rebuilt it into one of the most famous in the world following a row with the landlord has been told many times over the years.

But the full details of The Bard’s ‘riotous’ theft with his friends had never been fully explained until now, with the document set to go on display in London next year.

William Shakespeare, pictured left, took part in an armed robbery with a group of friends to steal an entire theatre and rebuild it as The Globe, pictured left in the 17th century, a document has revealed

An account of the case outlined in a document from the Star Chamber, an early English court, is to be part of an exhibition at Somerset House in February.

It is part of a joint project between the National Archive and King’s College London to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The court paper from 1601 alleges that a dozen accomplices did ‘riotouslie take downe and carry away the said Theatre in confederacy with others armed with unlawfull and offensive weapons, as namely swords, daggers, bills, axes and such like, and soe did enter, and in a very riotous and outrageous manner did attempt to pull down and carry away the said Theatre’.

The document states that the retrieval of the theatre by Shakespeare’s gang caused a ‘great disturbing of the peace’ and ‘terrified’ witnesses after their landlord said he no longer wanted a theatre on his land.

One of the legal documents that reveals Shakespeare and friends stole the theatre

The reconstructed Globe Theatre in Southwark, pictured, still hosts the Bard's plays today

It is part of a collection of six legal documents dating back to the 17th century, all belonging to the National Archive and never displayed together before, which will be shown at the Somerset House exhibition.

One of the documents, from 1595, shows how Shakespeare, who was never prosecuted over the theatre case, earned too little to pay tax and the collection also includes the writer’s will, including the promise of his ‘second best bed’ to his wife and a favourite bowl for his daughter.

The documents are so fragile they have been kept out of humidity and light but will be displayed following months of conservation work and research.

Professor Gordon McMullan, director of the London Shakespeare Centre at King’s College London, said: ‘Together, these records – which are unlikely to be on public display again in our lifetimes – give us the opportunity to reconstruct Shakespeare’s life.’

The theatre Shakespeare built only lasted for just over a decade after it burned down in 1613 when a stage cannon misfired and sparked a huge blaze. It was rebuilt a year later.

It was then torn down in the 1640s along with several other London theatres by the Puritans to make room for housing.

The current version of The Globe was built in 1997 and is based on what evidence remains of the designs of the building from between 1599 and 1614.

Also included in the exhibition are documents listing plays performed in front of James I and Queen Anne, details of a 1604 court case about a marriage between a couple brought together by Shakespeare and the Bard's 1616 will in full.