Sir John Oldcastle O, O!," when his fingertips are singed with candles — which of course works for "Oldcastle" but not "Falstaff." There is also the "castle" reference in IV,v,6 of the same play. The name Falstaff was derived from Sir John Fastolf, who was also a historical person—allegedly a greedy and grasping individual, who had a (probably undeserved) reputation for cowardice at the Battle of Patay in 1429. Fastolf, however, died without descendants, making him safe for a playwright's use. He had already appeared as a cowardly knight in Henry VI, part 1. The name change and the Epilogue disclaimer were required,
Early texts of Shakespeare's works the First Folio and much of the same additional material, with the addition of an unsigned poem by John Milton. The Third Folio was issued in 1663, published by Philip Chetwinde; Chetwinde had married Robert Allot's widow and so obtained the rights to the book. To the second impression of the Third Folio (1664) he added seven plays, namely "Pericles, Prince of Tyre;" "Locrine;" "The London Prodigal;" "The Puritan;" "Sir John Oldcastle;" "Thomas Lord Cromwell;" and "A Yorkshire Tragedy." (See: Shakespeare Apocrypha.) All seven of these additional plays had been published as quartos while Shakespeare was alive, but only "Pericles"