THE REAL FALSTAFF

See Also: EXECUTIONS The Executed; WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The Oldcastles were a gentry family who were seated in Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches. Sir John Oldcastle was born during the second half of the 14^thC. He played an active role in countering the rising of the Welsh rebel Owain Glyn Dwr. The knight's military reputation may have played a role in his developing a friendship with Henry Prince of Wales, who was the heir to the English throne.

Oldcastle married the sole heiress of the 3^rd Baron Cobham. Thereby, he became a figure of substance. In 1409 the knight was made a baron. Oldcastle had previously sat in Parliament as an M.P.. As a lord, his actions within the legislature were to cause the church authorities to view him with suspicion. His home county had a reputation for religious heterodoxy. At some juncture the baron embraced Lollardism. This was a broad, reformist movement that the Catholic Church chose to cast as being heretical in toto.

It is possible that, during the Parliament of 1410, the peer may have advocated a number of anti-clerical measures. Subsequently, an inquiry was launched into what one of his chaplains had been preaching. However, after a while, the matter was allowed to drop.¹

The Prince of Wales acceded to the throne in 1413 as King Henry V. Religiously, he was a more orthodox figure than his father had been. In the new climate, Archbishop Thomas Arundel felt able to move against Oldcastle. The baron was put on trial for heresy. He was found guilty of the charge. However, because of his rank and his personal connection to the monarch, he was placed in the Tower of London so that he might have time to reflect upon his past actions and recant.

The peer escaped from the fortress-prison. He then sought to orchestrate a revolt. However, the government acquired accurate information about what was being planned. In early 1414 the would-be-rebels sought to stage their action. It was intended that Lollards who lived in the City of London should join up with a force that was to gather at St Giles's Fields to the settlement's west. This plan was undermined by the simple actions of locking the City's gates and having a body of troops detain the rebels who had assembled at St Giles's. The baron managed to evade the soldiers and went into hiding.

Henry V twice issued pardons that Oldcastle could have availed himself of. The outlaw chose not to do so. While the king may have been able to forgive the peer for his treasonous conduct, the latter appreciated that the church regarded him as being its enemy and would always seek to strike against him. In late 1417 he was captured in Wales. He was brought back to London and was executed in St Giles's Fields.

When England embraced Protestantism, Oldcastle's reputation was transformed positively in the eyes of many. Shakespeare did not accept this rehabilitation. In the plays King Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), he depicted the peer as having been a degenerate who had sought to be a bad influence upon the youthful Prince Hal (Henry V). The 10th Baron Cobham took exception to this portrayal. Therefore, the dramatist changed the character's name to Falstaff.²

Location: St Giles's Fields, St Giles High Street WC2H 8LE (red, purple)

¹. Oldcastle conducted a correspondence with one of Jan Hus s Bohemian-resident patrons.

². A reference to Sir John Fastolf (c.1378-1459), a soldier who had been a contemporary of Oldcastle.

David Backhouse 2024